Workers to strike next week over petrol price -unions

Nigerian unions on Saturday called for a national strike from next week to protest a 67 percent increase in the pump price of petrol in Africa’s largest crude producer. “If by midnight on Tuesday next week the government fails to reverse the price of petrol to 86.50 naira per litre, we will have no other option than to order workers to begin an indefinite strike from Wednesday,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) general secretary Peter Ozo-Eson told AFP. He said the decision was taken after a meeting of both the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) — the two umbrella organisations for Nigerian workers. “We have directed our affiliates and civil society allies to mobilise their members for the impending showdown with government over this anti-people policy,” he said. Ozo-Esson said the proposed strike was also to force government to reverse a recent hike in the electricity tariff in the energy-starved country which generates just around 4,000 megawatts for a population of more than 170 million people. The unions said businesses including banks, airports, seaports, markets and government offices would be shut during the strike. Nigeria raised the price of petrol to 145 naira ($0.73) per litre on Wednesday after months of fuel shortages caused by a foreign exchange shortage which left Africa’s biggest economy running on fumes. For months motorists have been waiting for petrol in queues kilometres long, while others were forced to buy fuel on the black market, sometimes for triple the previous official price of 86.50 naira. The government said the inability of oil importers to source foreign exchange at the official rate was to blame. Nigeria’s naira currency is trading at around 350 to the dollar in the black market, far above the official rate of 197-199. Despite being Africa’s No. 1 crude producer, Nigeria has to import petroleum products because of a lack of capacity at its four functioning domestic refineries. The government keeps prices at the pump low and pays the difference to fuel importers, who frequently hold the country ransom by refusing to distribute fuel over tardy subsidy payments. The oil sector accounts for 70 percent of government revenue but has been hit by the global fall in crude prices since mid-2014, weakening the naira currency and forcing up the cost of living. In January 2012, the government tried to end the fuel subsidies, causing petrol prices to more than double, but was forced to partially reinstate them after tens of thousands of people took to the streets in violent protests that left more than a dozen dead.