Joe Brock Abuja

NIGERIAN unions began a second day of nationwide strikes yesterday to protest against the removal of fuel subsidies, after three people were killed on the first day of demonstrations and President Goodluck Jonathan and workers remained in deadlock.

Nigeria’s fuel regulator announced on January 1 that subsidies on imports of fuel would end immediately, more than doubling the price of petrol to about 150 naira (R7.44) a litre and sparking protests across the country.

Crowds began to build at meeting points in cities across the country with the majority of Nigerians still furious with the decision to take away their most visible welfare benefit.

Banks, government offices and large company buildings were closed but some market stalls and small shops were open for business.

The highways of the heaving commercial hub of Lagos, usually notorious for their traffic jams, were largely empty.

A group of youths set up a road block of burning tyres on the main bridge over the lagoon connecting the city’s two islands to the mainland.

Police shot dead three protesters and wounded more than two dozen on Monday after firing live ammunition and tear gas to disperse demonstrations in Lagos and the city of Kano.

Most international flights into Nigeria were cancelled.

Unions expressed anger at the deaths of demonstrators and urged members and the public to continue the strike until Jonathan reversed the government’s subsidy removal.

“This mindless killing of unarmed Nigerians on a peaceful protest is strongly condemned, and the inspector-general of police and President Jonathan will be held responsible,” the Nigerian Labour Congress said in a statement.

“We call on workers and the Nigerian people to continue to participate actively every day in the general strike and mass protests all over the country to ensure that the price of petrol is brought back to 65 naira a litre.”

Jonathan has said he would not back down on the decision to remove the subsidy that economists said was corrupt and wasteful, sending billions of dollars of public funds into the hands of a cartel of fuel marketers and oil importers.

The government estimates it will save 1 trillion naira this year by eliminating the subsidy. The discount encouraged smuggling into neighbouring nations such as Benin and Cameroon where fuel is more expensive.

Decades of corruption has left power and transport networks run down, while the state education and health-care systems have worsened, despite more than $200 million (R1.6 billion) a day worth of oil leaving Nigeria’s shores, and many politicians growing rich.

Workers in Africa’s largest energy industry were on strike but the 2 million barrel per day crude export business was largely unaffected so far, foreign and state oil firms said.

Much of Nigeria’s oil is from offshore oilfields, which rely on few staff and heavily automated equipment. – Reuters