Nigeria unions suspend strike over gas prices

At this January 9, 2012 demonstration in Lagos, Nigerians protest against the more than doubling of gasoline prices after the government abolished fuel subsidies. (PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

LAGOS, Nigeria — Unions suspended their nationwide strike on Monday, hours after Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan partially reinstated subsidies to keep gasoline prices low and deployed soldiers in the streets to halt widening demonstrations.

Union leaders described their decision as a victory for labor, allowing its leaders to guide the country's policy on fuel subsidies in the future while having gas prices drop to about $2.27 a gallon.

However, many protesters joined the demonstrations with hopes of seeing gas return to its previous price of about $1.70 per gallon, while also speaking out against a culture of government corruption in Africa's most populous nation. Deploying soldiers to the streets stopped demonstrators from gathering on Monday. At one point soldiers fired over the heads of marchers.

But Jonathan may still have to deal with populist rage that swept the country in recent days, and the use of the military in a nation with a history of military coups stoked immediate controversy.

"This is a clear case of intolerance and shutting of the democratic space against the people of Nigeria which must be condemned by all democracy-loving people around the world," read a statement from the Save Nigeria Group, which has organized massive demonstrations in Lagos.

The Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress told journalists on Monday in Nigeria's capital Abuja they applauded the government's recent promise to explore corruption in the country's oil sector. They described the six-day strike a success.

"We are sure that no government or institution will take Nigerians for granted again," said Abdulwaheed Omar, the president of the Nigeria Labor Congress.

But while Jonathan offered an olive branch to unions with the gas price relief, he used military power to make sure no one protested against the government Monday. In a rare display of military might, soldiers took over major highways and road junctions throughout Lagos, home to 15 million people, and Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city.

Soldiers march toward demonstrators protesting the scrapping of oil subsidy at Ojota district in Lagos, January 16, 2012. Nigerian security forces fired tear gas and shot into the air Monday to disperse around 300 protesters.

(Credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

In an early Monday morning address aired on state-run television, Jonathan warned that provocateurs were using the gas-price protest to cause instability.

"It has become clear to government and all well-meaning Nigerians that other interests beyond the implementation of the deregulation policy have hijacked the protest. ... These same interests seek to promote discord, anarchy and insecurity to the detriment of public peace," Jonathan said.

Labor organizers had urged workers to stay home on Monday after Jonathan appealed to them over the possibility of insecurity in the country. At the Lagos headquarters of the Nigeria Labor Congress, some 50 protesters gathered anyway. Lawyer Bamidele Aturu led the crowd in chants and cheers, comparing the president to military rulers of the past who used soldiers to suppress dissent.

"It's very clear the revolution has begun!" Aturu shouted. However, those gathered looked warily at passing pickup trucks filled with soldiers.