LAGOS, 5 July 2003 — Nigerian trade unions said yesterday talks with the government had failed and they would meet today to decide whether to press on with a general strike that has crippled the oil-producing nation.
Five days of disruption to the economy had looked likely to end yesterday before next week’s visit by US President George W. Bush, but unions said a gap remained over President Olusegun Obasanjo’s decision to raise petrol prices by more than 50 percent.
Strike leader Adams Oshiomhole said Obasanjo, who says a hike is essential for the economy, had come down from the petrol price level he set on June 20, but added: “The gap between our own demand (and the government’s offer) is not good enough for us to accept.”
Oshiomhole said Obasanjo’s offer would be put to an emergency meeting on Saturday of the executive of the Nigeria Labor Congress, the West African state’s umbrella body for trade unions.
“It’s left to (the National Executive Council) to accept it or not to accept it, and subsequently call off the strike or not call off the strike,” he said.
The strike has closed Nigeria’s seaports, banks, shops and filling stations, threatening crude oil production and shipments from the world’s eighth biggest exporter and a country still emerging from many years of military rule.
It was not immediately clear why Obasanjo took charge of the talks yesterday, a day after handing the role to his deputy. Union leaders had reported substantial progress in overnight talks chaired by Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
Abubakar led government negotiators in talks with strike leaders on Thursday after the NUPENG oil workers union vowed to halt output and Nigerian exports of more than two million barrels per day if the dispute remained unresolved by yesterday.
NUPENG said earlier yesterday it had put on hold a pullout of its members because of progress in negotiations to end the strike. The senior oil workers’ union PENGASSAN had also threatened to shut down Nigeria’s oil industry, but set its deadline for Sunday.
Police said eight people had been killed and scores injured in violence this week that started in the commercial hub Lagos and the capital Abuja, then spread to other major cities. More than 100 people had been arrested.
Obasanjo raised the cost of petrol on June 20 in a bid to end subsidies on imported products of some $2 billion a year. Despite huge oil exports, Nigeria must rely on fuel imports because its domestic refineries cannot meet the country’s needs.
The strike took on a new dimension on Thursday when activists protesting against next week’s visit by Bush clashed with security forces in the inland capital.
The Concerned Youth Alliance of Nigeria said Bush’s visit would give undeserved legitimacy to Obasanjo’s rule. The opposition alleged massive vote-rigging in elections in April that returned Obasanjo for a second term.
Bush, who embarks on a tour of Africa from July 7 to 12, said on Thursday in Washington the protests would not affect his visit to the OPEC member, a major supplier of oil to the United States.
World oil prices had pulled back from sharp gains on earlier suggestions of an imminent resolution of the strike.
The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for August delivery fell by 45 cents to $27.75 per barrel in late trading in London.