Nigeria was slowly returning to normal on Sunday after labour unions and the government reached an accord ending a four-day general strike that had paralysed Africa’s most populous nation.
The two labour umbrella organisations the blue-collar Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the white-collar Trade Union Congress (TUC) called off their strike on Saturday after President Umaru Yar’Adua gave a commitment there would be no further increases in the price of fuel at the pumps for a year.
But Yar’Adua maintained petrol prices at 70 naira ($0,55) per litre — half of the increase decided by his predecessor Olusegun Obasanjo on May 28 just before he handed over the presidency.
Yar’Adua, in a statement through his spokesperson on Sunday evening, pledged to honour all the commitments made towards labour.
”The president assures all Nigerians that the commitments government made in the course of negotiations to end the recent labour crisis will be expeditiously implemented,” spokesperson Olusegun Adeniyi said.
There is a tradition in Nigeria of governments promising concessions to labour and then failing to honour them.
As well as the concession on petrol prices, the government also agreed to scrap plans to double the consumer sales tax from 5% to 10%, and to order a review of the Obasanjo-approved sale of two oil refineries to a consortium led by a close associate of the former president.
It agreed to a 15% salary increase for civil servants, retroactive to January 1, another union demand.
Economic slump
The strike caused economic activity — with the notable exception of Nigeria’s oil industry — to grind to a halt, with the country losing about 50-billion naira each day of the strike, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce.
In the administrative capital, Abuja, some filling stations had started serving customers, putting motorists back on the roads. But residents said there was too little fuel to go round and that disputes had broken out over it.
In Nigeria’s southern oil capital, Port Harcourt, major filling stations were selling fuel at the new official price of 70 naira per litre, residents said.
Smaller independent stations were charging as much as 150 naira a litre, arguing that they themselves had bought their stocks from intermediaries and paid over the top for them.
The commercial capital, Lagos, remained at a virtual standstill with many of the city’s roads under water after heavy rains.
Drivers said that one filling station in the northern part of town selling limited quantities of fuel had closed in the afternoon after fighting broke out there between motorists and local thugs. They said the stations had stocks of fuel, but were anxious to adjust their pumps to take account of the new prices before opening to customers.
Victory
There was no clear victor in the dispute. One television commentator called the end of the strike ”a victory for the Nigerian workers”, but the government would not agree that either side was victorious.
”In this kind of engagement, there is no question of winners or losers,” the chief government negotiator, Baba Gana Kingibe, said. ”If there are losers, unfortunately … it has been the Nigerian people. Our economy has been devastated, our livelihood and social lives have been disrupted and there has been great suffering on the part of our people,” he added.
”It was President Yar’Adua’s personal intervention that halted the strike … after listening to all the parties and examining the issues of contention,” Adeniyi said.
Leaders of the two main umbrella unions confirmed that Yar’Adua had intervened in person, writing to assure them, among other things, of a 12-month moratorium on any rise in fuel prices at the pump.
Some Nigerian newspapers spoke of a ”truce” between the government and the unions, and TUC head Peter Esele told journalists the unions would be keeping a close eye on Yar’Adua to see if he keeps his word.
”The president said we should place our trust and faith in him and we intend to watch that all the way,” he said. — Sapa-AFP