Union workers in Nigeria hold nationwide strike over soaring inflation, unmet promises

In Nigeria, a nationwide strike is being carried out by government employees and other union workers who have threatened to shut down key services while people are angry about soaring inflation and growing economic pain.

Agitators said the protest was the only way to get the attention of the government.

After assuming office last year in Africa’s most populous country, President Bola Tinubu has enacted policies that include doing away with fuel subsidies and unifying Nigeria’s multiple exchange rates, leading to a devaluation of the naira against the dollar.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, gasoline prices have more than doubled and as a result, inflation has shot up, reaching close to 30 per cent last month, the highest in nearly three decades.

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‘No aid from government yet’

“We are hungry. There is nobody that doesn’t know this,” AP report quoted Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigerian Labor Congress, as saying.

“Things are getting out of hand,” Christian Omeje, a shop owner in the capital, said, adding: “Prices keep soaring, the aid the government said it would dole out has not been provided.”

In October, government labor unions reached a deal with the government to end strikes in return for monthly stipends and subsidies to cushion the blow of the new policies.

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Unions said the government has failed to deliver on promises that included a monthly wage increase of approximately $20 for all workers for six months and payments of approximately $15 for three months to millions of vulnerable households.

A pledge to roll out gas-powered buses for mass transit last year also failed to materialise.

With inputs from Associated Press