Nigeria labor talks end; strike threat stands
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ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigerian trade unions said after talks with the government Wednesday night that their threat to strike next week over recent fuel price hikes still stood, although the two sides agreed to work on a resolution.
Negotiators said they agreed to set up a 14-strong committee to study the deregulation of fuel prices, which the government hopes will solve chronic fuel scarcity in the oil exporting country, but that the unions say has just raised prices with no improved availability.
"Since we have not obtained any agreement from government, the strike still stands," said Adams Oshiomhole, president of the umbrella Nigerian Labor Congress after talks with top government officials. "The government has agreed to get back to us, but no particular date has been set."
Unions last week delivered a January 21 ultimatum to the government to return fuel prices to their former price of 34 naira (24 cents) per liter or face a crippling strike in the world's seventh largest oil exporter.
The threat came amid widespread popular dissatisfaction with President Olusegun Obasanjo's handling of the economy.
The Nigerian Labor Congress was already unhappy with price hikes resulting from the government's deregulation of fuel prices in October, but an extra levy announced in the 2004 budget at the end of December was the last straw.
Gasoline now sells for 42-44 naira per liter in Lagos and Abuja, but it can cost double that in other parts of the country due to scarcity.
Despite being a major exporter of crude, Nigeria is forced to import most of its fuel needs because its refineries do not work.
Strikes rarely affect oil export operations, which are more vulnerable to ethnic fighting and insecurity in the southern delta region. The last strike to hit oil production was in 1994. But 40 percent of the country's two million barrels per day output was halted last year by ethnic clashes.
Union leaders have said the planned strike is not just about the tax, worth 1.5 naira (1 cent) per liter, but what it calls the government's "anti-people" policies in general.
The government argues that the deregulation will solve the fuel supply problems by making refining profitable. It aims to privatize four oil refineries by mid-year.
Nigerians see cheap fuel as one of the few benefits of citizenship of the West African country, as its health, education and social security systems are in or near collapse.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
