General strike in Nigeria

Indefinite? No shit. Anyone know what percentage or the country are unionised and if the strike has been respected outside the unions?

More details on the struggle are available here: http://www.marxist.com/nigeria-not-a-kobo-increase-in-fuel-price.htm

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12 killed as subsidy protests turn bloody

Day 2: Subsidy protest continues…

http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23OccupyNigeria

Posted this on the other thread but thought I'd chuck it here as well as it's interesting.. some Nigerians in London protesting:

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As well as a blog post and photos from a neighbourhood protest in Lagos..

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Watch from minute 27 - a nigerian describes the role of religion in reinforcing corruption within the state, and passivity on the part of the population...

One of the main complaints of Nigerians is that Nigeria should a relatively wealthy country based on its revenue from oil. However, none of the wealth has been passed on to its people. Rather, it has been creamed off by generations of corrupt governments, leaving ordinary Nigerians in squalor.

Corruption of what? The problem is our occupation by Property!

Nigeria fuel strike: Burning roadblocks on second day

Photos

Occupy and Nigeria

The fuel subsidy removal protests for dummies

Nigerians protest for 4th day against fuel price

Nigerians took to the streets across the country for a fourth day running on Thursday to protest against the government's decision to remove popular fuel subsidies, which more than doubled the price of petrol.

As tens of thousands joined demonstrations, unions showed no signs of backing down on their threat to paralyse the country with an indefinite strike and shut down oil production in Africa's top crude producer.

Industry officials doubted unions would be able to stop crude exports completely, but even a minor outage could have a significant impact on the economy.

Nigerian oil unions vow to paralyse output to back strike

Nigeria’s two main oil unions threatened to shut output in Africa’s top crude producer as a national strike entered its fourth day, mounting pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan to restore fuel subsidies.

The Nupeng union said today it has withdrawn its workers from oil fields, while the other, Pengassan, said yesterday it told its 24,000 members to “be on red alert” in preparation for a shutdown of fields operated by companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Jonathan bolsters Nigerian rating in fight against unions

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is bolstering the credit rating prospects of Africa’s largest oil producer as he rejects demands from striking workers to reinstate fuel subsidies, Standard & Poor’s said.

Jonathan’s move to abolish the subsidy on Jan. 1, which more than doubled gasoline prices, is key to government reforms needed for an upgrade of Nigeria’s B+ rating, Christian Esters, a sovereign analyst at S&P, said in a phone interview from Frankfurt yesterday.
[...]
“Getting rid of the fuel subsidies is part of that reform program,” Esters said. “The potential upgrade is linked to whether the government implements its reform program.”

Nigerian unions accuse president of using 'thugs' to quash protests

Two Nigerian trade unions accused the country's president of using "armed thugs" to attack protesters, and urged demonstrators to continue their nationwide strike against high fuel prices on Wednesday and beyond.

"In a Mubarak-style response to the peoples' protests, the Jonathan administration brought into Abuja, thugs armed with various weapons including guns," the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria said in a joint statement late Tuesday night.

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Nigeria workers stage 5th day of strikes, talks pause

Nigeria: 'See, the Nigerian revolution has begun'

Most of the country supports not just the strikes but also the Occupy Nigeria movement which seeks to seriously challenge the status quo and once and for all end the rule by kleptocracy.

On Monday 9 January, the first day of the Nigerian nationwide indefinite strike, my fellow blogger, Emmanuel Iduma, wrote a post 'See, The Nigerian Revolution Has Begun'. Emmanuel is a young man, a writer, modest and maybe a little shy. Sometimes there is hesitancy about his writing, as if he is not quite sure whether the stone he steps on will bear his weight or if his foot slips he will maintain his balance. But the important thing is, he never fails to take that step. 'See, The Nigerian Revolution Has Began' is an eloquent, assured statement of a young Nigerian at the point of a new beginning. Behind him lies years of scorn, thievery, greed, opportunism, political thuggery, untold violence, scammers, the occasional great football team and some of the world's most innovative and accomplished musicians.

'The revolution has begun. I am part of it. Do not be fooled that it begins and ends with placards, strikes, Twitter hashtags. I am certainly wiser than that. Yes, I will keep hashtagging, placarding, striking, until I am convinced that I have been de-stereotyped. Until I am convinced that I am not a matterless blur in the narrative of my country.'

Yes, we can play football and we can make music and dance! But now we can also make revolutions, or can we?

For me, well I am older, though not necessarily wiser, and most definitely less optimistic. It's day nine of Nigeria's uprising and the sheer energy, rapidness and velocity of hundreds of voices seconds apart on Twitter is exhausting. So reading anything that is at least one paragraph or more is sheer relief. I have noted two types of writing on the uprising. Those that stick to the superficial and easy summations repeated from similar commentary on Tunisia and Egypt and those that try to look deeper and raise questions relevant to the geopolitical entity called Nigeria. I am not a historian of revolutions, but since when were revolutions not predominantly acted by young people with a few elders thrown in for good measure? Hardly an original observation. My intention here is to attempt to provide a summary of what has taken place to date and to raise questions by bringing together some of the facts and analysis...

Labor group dismisses Nigeria's cut in fuel prices; protests to continue

Labor leaders have rejected the Nigerian government's concession Monday to drop fuel prices after a nationwide strike paralyzed the country last week. Abiodum Aremu of the Nigeria Labour Congress said the group will only accept a return to prices before the government ended fuel subsidies on January 1.

Fuel prices used to be about 65 nairas (40 cents) per liter, but the end of subsidies doubled gas prices and sent the costs of other goods skyrocketing.

On Monday morning, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan announced the government has slashed fuel prices.

"Given the hardships being suffered by Nigerians, and after consideration and consultations with state governors and the leadership of the National Assembly, (the) government has approved the reduction of the pump price of petrol to 97 nairas (60 cents) a liter," Jonathan said in his speech.
[…]
But Aremu said his group will only accept the previous fuel price of 65 nairas per liter.
[....]
Union sources are calling for citizens to continue protests Monday in the form of "sit-ins" at home and in neighborhoods -- rather than in main city squares, for security reasons -- even though the government ordered all federal civil servants to report to work or risk losing their jobs...

Edit: but lots of reports on Twitter that the NLC has now called off the strike. I'm not sure if this is confirmed.

Edit2: confirmation - reactions here

Viewpoint: 'Nigeria Spring' here to stay (BBC)