Strike called off as petrol price is cut in Nigeria

Union leaders suspended a nationwide strike yesterday after the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan partially reinstated subsidies to keep petrol prices low and deployed soldiers in the streets to stop widening protests.

The decision to halt the action that began on 9 January was portrayed as a victory for the unions, allowing its leaders to guide the country's policy on fuel subsidies in the future while having petrol prices drop to about 60 cents a litre.

But while Mr Jonathan offered an olive branch with the fuel price relief, he used military power to make sure no one protested against the government yesterday. Soldiers took over major highways and road junctions throughout Lagos and Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city.

AP