Reports: Nigeria strike deal
 |
Strikes began Monday over the Nigerian government's decision to hike oil prices.
Story Tools
|
LAGOS, Nigeria -- A crippling, and often violent, Nigerian general strike over petrol prices looks set to have been settled, reports say.
The strike will be called off late Sunday after union officials struck a compromise agreement with the government, Reuters reported union officials as saying.
"An agreement has been reached," said Owei Lakemasa, spokesman for the umbrella Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), which had spearheaded the walkout.
The week-long strike had brought businesses to a standstill and resulted in at least eight deaths in clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the oil-rich African country.
Earlier hopes of a deal came to nothing. But Sunday's agreement comes just hours before a scheduled visit by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of his tour on African countries.
Details of the compromise are not available at this stage.
The NLC had urged president Olusegun Obasanjo to reverse his June 20 decision to end subsidies on retail fuel products and hike petrol prices by more than 50 percent.
Strikes began Monday in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, as well as in the capital Abuja and other major cities.
Police have fired tear gas to break up demonstrations in Nigeria.
|
 |
Police said more than 100 people have been arrested, Reuters reported.
Work stoppages have hit the country's seaports, as well as closed banks, shops and petrol stations. Manufacturing plants and many of Nigeria's biggest corporations have also been affected by the strike.
NLC had threatened to shut down the country's oil and gas industry to back its demands for lower oil prices by the weekend.
Nigeria, which ships more than two million barrels of oil a day, is the world's fifth-largest exporter of crude. However, it must rely on fuel imports because its domestic refineries cannot meet the country's needs.
Bush, who begins his five-day visit to Africa Monday, said the protests would not affect his visit to Nigeria, which is a major supplier of oil to the United States, Reuters reported.