Abuja - Tens of millions of Nigerians boycotted work Wednesday as labour leaders called a nationwide general strike in a bid to force President Olusegun Obasanjo's government to reign in soaring fuel prices.
The normally teeming streets of the commercial capital Lagos were almost empty, service stations were closed and the city's largest food market deserted on the first day of what labour has threatened will be a three-week stoppage.
In the capital Abuja some federal civil servants trickled in to work, having been threatened with losing their wages, but large squads of riot police were deployed at strategic junctions in anticipation of a day of protest.
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2106827It baffles me why Americans can't pull off a 'shut down the country' general strike.
Oil still spurts in Nigeria
Lagos - The major oil multinationals operating in Nigeria, including Royal Dutch/Shell and ChevronTexaco Corp, said the general strike which began on Wednesday has not affected production, but they are monitoring the ongoing situation.
Oil unions joined the nationwide protest against domestic fuel prices on Wednesday, having previously vowed to halt exports from Nigeria - Africa's largest crude supplier - with exports of more than 2 million barrels a day.
"We are still studying the effect of the strike on our work. At the current time we are still producing crude, said Don Boham, head of public affairs in Nigeria for the Anglo-Dutch giant Shell.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1540100,00.htmlOne can't help to inquire that Bush's Vietnam is about CheveronTexaco, Exxon... NOT being able to do business in Iraq!