Unions to discuss proposals for ending general strike

Nigeria's trade unions said on Friday they would consider a new set of government proposals to end a five-day-old general strike, triggered by a 54 percent increase in petrol prices. Adams Oshiomhole, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said after meeting President Olusegun Obasanjo for the second day running that the government’s hardline position had softened considerably and union leaders would meet to discuss its latest proposals on Saturday. “What they have is not necessarily what we want, but we're calling a meeting of the national executive council to discuss what they have offered,” Oshiomhole told reporters. He said the meeting would decide whether or not to call off the strike, which has shut down government offices, banks, sea ports and most businesses in the major cities of Africa’s most populous country and has threatened to halt its vital oil exports. The largest oil union, the blue-collar National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria (NUPENG), said on Friday it would hold back on action to shut down oil exports because of significant progress made in negotiations with the government. “We had started the process of shutting down the export terminals, but because of the seeming progress made in talks with the government, we have stopped for now,” Peter Akpatason, NUPENG president, told IRIN. The white-collar Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, which had threatened to walk out on Sunday, said it was also impressed by progress in the negotiations. The NLC called the nationwide stoppage after the government raised fuel prices by more than 50 percent on 20 June, saying Nigeria should no longer have to spend US $2 billion a year on subsidising fuel that was already extremely cheap by international standards. Labour leaders protested that the steep price increases for petrol, diesel and kerosene would only aggravate poverty among Nigeria's 120 million people, 70 percent of whom live on less than one dollar a day.