Placating The Unions

June 2007 | Ratings Update

In early June Nigerian labour unions threatened to call a strike on the back of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's last-minute - before stepping down - 15% hike in fuel prices. Furthermore the unions demanded that freshly elected President Umaru Yar'Adua reverses the privatisation of two oil refineries and a doubling in the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT), which Obasanjo also kindly pushed through during his last days in office. Needless to say, Yar'Adua faces a tough start, having to juggle this barrage of union demands with the ongoing upheaval in the Niger Delta and palpable acrimony among opposition parties after the fiercely criticised polls.

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