Nigerian fuel tax battle goes to court
Ola Awoniyi | Abuja, Nigeria
26 January 2004 15:16
Nigeria's government and trade unions took their battle over a controversial fuel tax back to court on Monday, five days after labour leaders suspended plans to launch a crippling general strike over the levy.
Lawyers from both sides came to the appeals court in Abuja, where judges began hearings into the legality of the both the fuel tax and labour's threat to hold a nationwide protest over its reintroduction.
The case has become a key battle for President Olusegun Obasanjo as he strives to push through wide-ranging economic reforms in Africa's most populous country in the teeth of deep public distrust of his regime.
In itself, the new 1,5 naira (1,2 United States cent) levy on a litre of petrol is a relatively modest increase intended to fund repairs to Nigeria's decrepit and dangerous road network.
But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has chosen to make a stand on the issue, knowing that the next stages in Obasanjo's reforms will include public sector job cuts and a faster programme of privatisation.
Last week hundreds of thousands of NLC supporters stayed away from work on Wednesday morning in support of a general strike, which was called off later in the day after Obasanjo suspended the fuel tax.
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Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil exporter and any strike that manages to disrupt some or all of its two million barrels per day in exports of crude could force up prices on the world market.
But a similar protest in June last year failed to have much effect on the oil sector -- which is largely controlled by foreign multinationals. Its most dramatic effects were felt, in fact, on Nigeria's teeming city streets.
Last year's stoppage paralysed the economy for eight days and triggered protests in which at least 12 strikers and bystanders were shot dead by Nigeria's notoriously trigger-happy police.
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