Nigeria

Trade unions in Nigeria are calling for a General strike

Starting on Wednesday, Nigeria could stand still. The largest trade unions have called a nationwide strike, because the government subsidizes gasoline. Many people are of the grants.

The two main Nigerian trade unions have called for a complete withdrawal, should not make the government the petrol price increase will be reversed. As the deadline you set midnight in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The strike will be to your specifications for an indefinite period.

The whole country shut down

The unions said companies would be the same, such as banks, airports, ship ports, markets and authorities affected. The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to speak for millions of workers in the public and private sectors.

In the middle of the week, the government had announced that subsidies for gasoline, abolish, and had at the same time raised the price of a liter of gasoline to more than two-thirds.

Gasoline almost exclusively as an Import

Although Nigeria is the oil richest country in Africa, it imports almost the entire demand for petrol because the refineries have been neglected for a number of years. The capacity of the four functioning facilities is not enough. So far, the government has subsidized gasoline imports, but now the money is missing.

The West African country is struggling at the moment with the most severe economic crisis in decades. 70 percent of the revenue of the country come from the Oil sector. The crash of the global Oil price burdened the country since the middle of 2014 and weakens the currency Naira.

For weeks petrol in Nigeria is a scarce commodity. The Wait in kilometre-long queues, or black market

Many Nigerians, however, are dependent on gasoline, to be mobile, and to produce electricity. The prices raise also tricky, because many people see the subsidies as the only benefit from the Oil wealth of the country.

In 2012, the government had tried to use the subsidies to be suspended, with the result that the gasoline prices doubled overnight. In response to wide-ranging strikes and protests the government made the undo.

ust/kle (AFP/rtr)