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afrol News, 17 January - The ongoing general strike in Nigeria is further fuelled by the arrest of union president Adams Oshiomhole. The strike started as a nation-wide protest over a hike in petrol prices. Unions urge strikers to continue. Yesterday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leader Oshiomhole and several supporters were charged with "unlawful assembly and inciting the general public against the government," but Oshiomhole was soon released on bail. The arrest of the prominent labour leader provoked strikers to go on. Hundreds of protesters had gathered yesterday morning in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, in front of government offices to demonstrate over at the failure of NLC negotiations with the government on the 15.3% increase of petrol prices and were met by a barrage of tear gas from the Nigerian authorities. Yesterday, most of Nigeria was paralysed by the strikes. Public offices, banks and petrol stations remained closed and angry strikers took to the streets. Violence was mostly avoided, except for some clashes between protesters and police in Lagos. The government and an Abuja court have called the strike "illegal". The NLC however argued that it did not require a 21 day notice for national strikes, and therefore exercised its "legitimate right to conduct the strike". - The NLC call for a national strike is perfectly legal, Bill Jordan of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says in support of the Nigerian trade union. "The ICFTU fully supports the call by the NLC for either a review of the price hike or alternative measures which include repercussion relief programs," he continued. The labour watchdog, organising 225 national trade unions, reacted "with outrage at the arbitrary arrest" of Oshiomhole. Also spokesman Patrick Craven of the South African trade union COSATU yesterday condemned the arrest of Oshiomhole, demanding the "immediate release of all those arrested." Also in March last year, Nigerian trade union defied a police ban and organised a general strike and held demonstrations against rising fuel prices in Lagos over the issue of rising petrol prices. President Olusegun Obasanjo's in 2001 backed down on the price rise, continuing government subsidies. Sources: ICFTU, COSATU, press
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