Nigerian strike on day two
2004-06-10 12:56
Lagos - Millions of Nigerian workers stayed out on strike for the second day on Thursday as union leaders turned up the pressure on President Olusegun Obasanjo's government over soaring fuel prices.
Private traffic was slightly heavier than it had been on Wednesday in the country's normally buzzing commercial hub, Lagos, but petrol stations remained shut, markets lay deserted and banks were closed, a reporter said.
A few federal civil servants in the capital Abuja were trickling in to their ministries, but government hospitals were running a skeleton service and many businesses remained closed.
In the northern trading centre of Kano small private businesses ignored the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) strike order, as they had on day one of the action, but banks and petrol stations remained closed and traffic was light.
The head of the NLC, Adams Oshiomhole, said on Wednesday that the strike would continue until Obasanjo's government honours a pledge to force marketers to cut pump prices for petrol and diesel by around a fifth, in line with a court order.
But the government insists it has already ordered private fuel firms to reduce prices, and will punish any station still selling at the old rate.
Station gets sealed up
"Any petrol station that refuses to comply will face the consequence. And what do I mean by this? The station gets sealed up," said Funsho Kupolokun, managing director of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
"The NNPC has complied and is complying," he added, in a television interview, adding that the NNPC's own filling stations had already reduced their prices.
It was difficult to confirm whether private marketers had complied globally with the order. In Lagos, AFP visited more than 40 petrol stations and found them all closed.
But in Abuja, three firms - Conoil, African Petroleum and the NNPC - had opened and were selling petrol at 43, 42 and 41 naira (about R1.99) per litre , down from highs of more than 50 naira last week.