Fuel Subsidy Removal: Nigeria Court Orders Halt To Monday's Nationwide Strike

An industrial court in Nigeria ordered unions Friday to stop a planned nationwide strike over spiraling gasoline prices, giving authorities legal power to break up any work stoppages by labor groups.

The order by the National Industrial Court came as protests continued in other Nigerian cities over the removal of government-sponsored fuel subsidies.
The nation's House of Representatives said it would meet Sunday to address the concerns of the people, but Nigeria's president appears unwilling to pull back from eliminating the subsidy.

Gas prices have risen from $1.70 per gallon (45 cents per liter) to at least $3.50 per gallon (94 cents per liter) since the subsidy ended Sunday. That's caused prices to inflate for food and transportation across Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people where most live on less than $2 a day.

The court order by Justice Babatunde Adejuwon came after a filing by the federal government to stop the Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria from holding a planned strike Monday. Only government lawyers attended the hastily called court hearing in Nigeria's capital Abuja.

"Economic activities within the country will be adversely affected, as will the health and safety of the citizenry, if the impending strike is allowed to hold," Adejuwon wrote in his order.