Update: Labour Unions' Fuel Hike Strike Shuts Businesses In Lagos, Abuja

… THEWILL Confirms One Protester Has Been Shot And Killed

SAN FRANCISCO, January 09, (THEWILL) – Labour unions went ahead with its scheduled nationwide strike with marches witnessed in some Nigerian cities including Lagos and Abuja.

Reports say union leaders picketed the Murtala Muhammad Airport in Ikeja, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja, blocking commercial airliners from scheduled operations.

The usually bustling streets of Lagos are quiet with banks, businesses, markets and shops closed. The streets were mainly deserted and police patrol vehicles were visible at strategic locations in the state.

Angry protests have greeted the removal of subsidy on petroleum products which has sent prices of most basic commodities to the roof. Before the subsidy removal, petrol sold for N65 per litre; it now sells at N141 per litre, and even for more in some areas.

THEWILL can confirm that a protester was shot and killed in the Ogba district of Lagos. Shot came from the police.

The House of Representatives on Sunday during an emergency session urged the federal government to reinstate the subsidy in the interest of the masses, while consultations on the highly contentious issue continue.

In reaction to the resolution passes by the House, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan reiterated that the policy was here to stay while he accused the House members of trying to score a cheap political point using the issue.

The federal government Sunday at the Eagle Square in Abuja, launched a mass transit scheme of 1600 buses, it said would help ease the hardship of commuters in the first phase of palliative programmes.

Many labour unions and civil society groups have said the indefinite strike would continue until the federal government reverses the policy.