Nigeria's Gasoline Tanker Drivers On Strike As Of 7/11 - Reuters

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ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's gasoline tanker drivers went on an indefinite nationwide strike on Friday in protest over high fuel prices and the state of the country's dilapidated roads, a senior union official said.

Global fuel prices have risen by 50 percent since the start of 2008, triggering protests around the world and raising fears of runaway inflation. U.S. crude climbed to a record high near $147 a barrel on Friday.

"The high diesel price is biting very hard on Nigeria. It's unbearable," said Pius Ikechi, the deputy president of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers. "This strike will be indefinite until the government does something tangible," he said.

Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but its state-owned refineries have frequent production problems, largely due to mismanagement and vandalism, saddling it with an annual fuel import bill of some $4 billion. A prolonged strike could lead to a shortage in diesel supplies which would cripple many businesses in the West African country, who rely on generators for power because the national electricity grid has all but collapsed.

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http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN149543.html