- Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian fuel subsidy protest continues for third day
- Date: 12th January 2012
- Summary: ***EDITORS WARNING - USE OF OBSCENITY ON T-SHIRT*** LAGOS, NIGERIA (JANUARY 11, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS AT GANI FAWEHINMI'S (LATE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST LAWYER) GARDEN GROUP OF PROTESTERS WITH NIGERIAN FLAG, ONE PROTESTER WEARING T-SHIRT READING 'GO FUCK YOURSELF' VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS PARADING A GOAT WITH A PLACARD ON IT SAYING: "NO SUBSIDY, JONATHAN MUST GO" PLACARD READING: "END CORRUPTION AND LOOTING NOW" PROTESTERS HELPING A LADY WITH CRUTCHES UP PROTESTERS AT GANI FAWEHINMI'S (LATE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST LAWYER) GARDEN PLACARD MEANING: GOVERNORS, THIEF, SENATE, THIEF, REPRESENTATIVES, THIEF, PRESIDENT, CHIEF OF THIEVES, ALL OF THEM, THIEVES, JONAH HARAM (BOKO HARAM) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEGUN ADEFILA, DIRECTOR OF A RECORD LABEL, CROWN TROOP OF AFRICA SAYING: "This question is not about Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria's President) or 65 naira, it's about if you know that Nigeria is bankrupt, declare Nigeria bankrupt, tell us that Nigeria is a nation of poor people, that we do not have natural resources and human resources, that is why we are where we are today." VARIOUS OF FOOD STALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER SHOWING A PLATE OF RICE AND BEANS SAYING: "Jonathan is eating with 3 million everyday, this is what I'm eating, this is what I'm eating, we will fight, we will not stop until this ends, this must end." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS STANDING LOOKING DOWN. ONE PROTESTER WEARING ONLY HIS UNDERPANTS IN TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MUSICIAN FELA KUTI (WHO OFTEN PERFORMED SHIRTLESS) AMBULANCE AND PROTESTERS AMBULANCE DRIVER PROTESTER WITH BULLET WOUND TO HIS HEAD IN AMBULANCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AHMED HAMMED, GRADUATE OF SOCIOLOGY, RAMAT UNIVERSITY AND BROTHER OF WOUNDED MAN TALKING ABOUT THE WOUNDS HIS BROTHER SUSTAINED SAYING: "They were patrolling, they now saw him sitting down, before we knew what was happening, they shot him. He was sitting on his bike and the guy is a student." CROWD OF PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 27th January 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5I20ZTH0TVAWM0BGVTUNC6LRJ
- Story Text: A showdown between Nigeria's government and unions over a more than doubling of motor fuel prices paralysed the country for a third day on Wednesday (January 11), with neither side showing any sign of backing down.
Tens of thousands demonstrated in Nigeria's most populous city, Lagos and the numbers of protesters are increasing everyday.
Workers vowed to keep up the indefinite strike unless the government restores a motor fuel subsidy it scrapped on January 1, but authorities said they would withhold pay from civil servants who join it.
Segun Adefila, Director, Crown Troop record label demanded that Nigeria's government should inform the nation.
"This question is not about Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria's President) or 65 naira, it's about if you know that Nigeria is bankrupt, declare Nigeria bankrupt, tell us that Nigeria is a nation of poor people, that we do not have natural resources and human resources, that is why we are where we are today."
Banks, restaurants and shops were shuttered closed, evidence that the strike is badly damaging the economy, in which most people live on less than 2 (two) U.S. Dollars per day.
"Jonathan is eating with 3 million everyday, this is what I'm eating, this is what I'm eating, we will fight, we will not stop until this ends, this must end," said one protester at Wednesday's demonstration showing a plate of rice and beans.
The government of President Goodluck Jonathan now has two major security problems - opposition to the fuel price rise which has occasionally turned violent and sectarian strife started by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
Economists say the fuel subsidy would soon have bankrupted the country. But its removal more than doubled the petrol price to 150 naira (0.93 U.S. Dollars) a litre, depriving Nigerians of what many regarded as their only welfare benefit.
President Jonathan has stood firm on removing the subsidy in a nation which is Africa's biggest crude producer but which has to import many of its oil products due to a shortage of refining capacity.
Scores of passengers were stranded by cancelled flights at Lagos international airport, many of them sleeping on the floor as they waited in vain for airlines to resume services.
There was no sign of Government and labour coming to an agreement on Wednesday.
The strike has not affected oil output yet, industry officials say, though the offices of international companies such as Shell and Exxon Mobil are shut.
But Nigerian oil workers have threatened on Wednesday to shut down output in Africa's top crude producer. The biggest oil union PENGASSAN said it was ready to halt oil production, although industry officials doubted it could shut down crude exports completely.
Nigeria exports over 2 million barrels of crude oil per day and is a major supplier to the United States and Europe. Output has been unaffected so far but concerns about Nigerian supply can move global oil prices, although they were down on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands demonstrated in cities across the country of 160 million on Tuesday (January 10) in protests that are gathering pace, especially in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, and the capital Abuja.
Some protests have turned violent. A mob killed five people in an attack on a mosque in southern Nigeria on Tuesday, taking advantage of the civil disorder to settle sectarian scores and highlighting the nation's worsening fragility.
Police shot dead two people and wounded at least two dozen during protests on Monday (January 9).
"They were patrolling, they now saw him sitting down, before we knew what was happening, they shot him. He was sitting on his bike and the guy is a student," said Ahmed Hammed, the brother of one man wounded in an earlier protest.
Jonathan has been criticised for failing to quell Boko Haram, whose insurgency is rooted in the largely Muslim north. However, it is increasingly targeting Christians from the south, most recently in attacks on churches that have killed dozens and provoked reprisals against Muslims.
Jonathan has shown no sign of yielding to protests similar to those that derailed past attempts to scrap the subsidy.
Raising the stakes, the attorney general said late on Tuesday that striking public sector workers would not be paid, because the strike has been ruled unlawful by the courts.
The government estimates it will save 1 trillion naira (6 billion USD) this year by eliminating the subsidy. Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said 90 billion naira a year of the money saved would be spent on roads and other infrastructure, 57 billion on the railways and 60 billion on poverty safety nets. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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