Nigerian oil unions have suspended a two-day strike in the national oil company after the government agreed to a pay rise and other benefits, a union leader said.
The strike had threatened to halt oil shipments from the world’s eighth-largest exporter and worsened fuel shortages across Nigeria in the days leading up to a change of government on Tuesday.
”The government has met some of our demands,” said Peter Esele, head of the senior staff union Pengassan.
The government agreed to a 15% pay rise for workers in the national oil company and severance benefits relating to the privatisation of Nigeria’s largest oil refinery, he said.
In a separate protest planned for Monday and Tuesday, oil workers will join other unionists in a sit-at-home protest against widespread rigging in last month’s elections, which gave the ruling party a landslide victory.
President-elect Umaru Yar’Adua is due to succeed Olusegun Obasanjo at an inauguration ceremony in the capital on Tuesday.
Oil production and exports are unlikely to be affected by the sit-at-home action, unionists said.
International observers said rigging and violence were so widespread in the election that brought Yar’Adua to power that it could not be considered credible. — Reuters