Read this article in:
13 July, 2005
A three-day general strike in Nigeria ended 11 June after a federal court in Abuja ordered petrol and fuel prices lowered. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has sought to remove petrol subsidies in the oil-rich nation, a move that drove up fuel prices and pushed inflation levels to 20%. Two strikers were shot and killed 10 June by aggressive police forces outside the offices of the Nigerian Labour Congress after they accompanied NLC leaders on a mission to monitor petrol prices. Both ICEM affiliates NUPENG and PENGASSAN were front and center in the strike. Obasanjo retaliated against the nationwide shutdown by threatening to amend the Trades Union Act of 2003 that effectively would dissolve the NLC and other democratic unions, but popular sentiment by both legislators and the general populace make this an unlikely action.