Nigeria braces for strike, oil exports in danger
Nigerians were stockpiling food and fuel in anticipation of a nationwide general strike against rising petrol prices which could disrupt vital exports from the world’s sixth largest oil supplier. Union leaders told AFP that there was nothing government could now do, short of immediately slashing pump prices, to avert a shut-down from midnight Tuesday which would paralyse economic life across a nation of 130 million people. Nevertheless the government invited union leaders to an eleventh-hour meeting in a bid to avert the strike, which could also have global economic consequences if it forces already soaring world oil prices any higher. Full Story