Lagos - Business activities in Nigeria have ground to a halt as the indefinite strike called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil society groups began Monday, with banks, shops, offices, hospitals and markets closed.
In Lagos, Nigeria's commercial hub, major streets were deserted, while law enforcement officers patrolled the city to monitor events. Several youths converted some usually busy streets in the city into soccer pitches.
In Jos, the capital of the central north province of Plateau, workers began a nationwide strike over the government's removal of fuel subsidy on a calm note. Aside from the closure of government and some private institutions, other basic businesses went on as usual.
Along major highways, vehicular movement was normal, while commercial motorcyclists operated, as usual, on the major highways.
A Xinhua reporter in the restive city said security was present around churches and mosques as well as petrol filling stations. In southeastern Cross Rivers State, the NLC and TUC threatened to sanction members who failed to join the ongoing strike to protest the fuel subsidy removal.
The two unions also commended the police for providing security throughout the peaceful rally. In northeast Borno State, the NLC shelved street protest in the ongoing fuel subsidy strike following an appeal by the security agencies in the state.
Xinhua's reporter in Maiduguri, the state capital, said the gates at the federal government secretariat as well as the state secretariat, were under lock and key. All markets were closed while taxis and commercial buses kept off the roads even as security personnel patrolled the streets, he added.
Meanwhile, the authorities on Monday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the northern city of Kano, the second time in days after doing so in a string of towns in the Muslim-dominated north following a deadly church attack.
In northern Nasarawa state, youths barricaded the busy Abuja-Makurdi road as workers embarked on a nationwide strike to force the government to revert the price of petrol to 65 naira (one USD = about 162 naira) per litre. The protesters said the fuel subsidy removal had brought untold hardship to ordinary Nigerians.
In Yenagoa, the Bayelsa Police Command barred members of the civil society organisations and organised labour from embarking on street protests.
Civil society organisations, which came out as early as 7.30am local time, were turned back at their take-off point in the state capital by stern-looking policemen in several patrol vans and an armored personnel carrier.
Similarly, socio-economic activities in northern Gombe State were brought to a halt as workers and entrepreneurs joined the nationwide strike. The workers were joined by commercial motorcyclists, traders, artisans and other organised groups, calling on the government to rescind its decision.
