A four-day nationwide strike to protest fuel price hikes began in Nigeria yesterday, and the streets of the country's huge commercial capital of Lagos were empty, with most businesses, banks and schools closed.
"The strike is on. Nigerians are united over this," said Owei Lakemfa, a spokesman for Nigeria Labor Congress, the nation's main labor union.
On Sunday, NLC chief Adams Oshiomhole vowed the strike would go ahead as planned, and accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of shunning dialogue to resolve union grievances.
Union leaders are demanding the government reverse price hikes last month that saw the price of fuel in Nigeria rise from 43 naira (US$0.31) per liter to 53 naira per liter.
In Lagos, soldiers and anti-riot police were out on the streets in force, patrolling in armored vehicles through the city's central business district.
Oshiomhole, president of the 29-union umbrella group, the Nigeria Labor Congress, spoke publicly on Sunday for the first time since security forces detained and released him Saturday in the capital, Abuja.
Talks last Friday between union and government representatives failed to reach an accord on fuel prices, setting the stage for the strike.
Oshiomhole was detained Saturday morning by state security police at Abuja's international airport as he was waiting for a flight to a southern Nigeria city. A 15-member team of security forces "overpowered him, wrestled him to the ground and bundled him into a standby" car, his union said in a statement, citing witnesses.
Oshiomhole said he was held most of Saturday and released in the evening, after which he went to a hospital for treatment of bruises sustained during the detention. He made contact with union colleagues only Sunday morning, he said.
He did not say why officials had detained him. Information Minister Chukwuemeka Chikelu said on Saturday the detention was the result of a "misunderstanding with some low-level security officials."
Union leaders insist the strike will be peaceful, as workers have been directed to stay at home. They warned, however, that a heavy-handed police response could trigger mass protests.
"The Nigerian police must not be an instrument of terrorism," Oshiomhole said.
Police spokesman Chris Olakpe said a nationwide security alert has been issued.
"We have beefed up security nationwide ... and put in place logistics to ensure every law-abiding citizen goes about his lawful duty," Olakpe said.
Nigeria is Africa's leading crude produce and the world's seventh-largest oil exporter.
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS