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· The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) resorted to a nationwide strike starting on Thursday January 27
· The aim is to register their displeasure over government’s initial plans to remove fuel subsidies
· The government had initially proposed to abolish the subsidies, which entailed billions of dollars from public coffers to drain out every year
· But at the same time, Nigeria allowed gas stations to sell gasoline at prices far below the market
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) resorted to a nationwide strike starting on Thursday January 27. The aim is to register their displeasure over the government’s initial plans to remove fuel subsidies.
The government had initially proposed to abolish the subsidies, which entailed billions of dollars from public coffers to drain out every year. But at the same time, Nigeria allowed gas stations to sell gasoline at prices far below the market. In December 2021, NLC and TUC announced nationwide protests against the increase of petrol pump prices.
Although the federal government seems to be reversing, or at least postponing, the plans to remove fuel subsidies, the trade unions appear to want to exercise their democratic rights. Nigerian consumers consider access to cheap fuel to be one of the few privileges they enjoy from their poverty-stricken oil power.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan on January 24 urged the trade unions to call off the strike since the federal government was reconsidering the removal of the subsidy. In November, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said she wanted to end this “unsustainable” measure by June, in line with the priorities set by the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But respecting the public commotion, the government kept on postponing the decision. Since the 1970s, the federal government – which spends more on subsidies than on other key underdeveloped sectors such as education or health – has been paying part of the cost of petroleum products.
