Page 11 - Aruba Today

WORLD NEWS A11
Nigerian oil output, naira fall amid attacks, strike threatsÂ
 In this Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 file photo Hundreds of people demonstrate during a nationwide strike
following the removal of fuel subsidy by the government in Lagos, Nigeria.Â
Associated Press
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Mili-
tant attacks on oil installa- rica’s biggest oil producer,
tions and the threat of a
nationwide strike drove Ni-
geria’s petroleum produc-
tion and its naira currency
to new lows Tuesday.
The naira fell to 350 to the
dollar on the parallel mar-
ket, against an official rate Union Congress, which say
of 199, amid reports and
denials that President Mu-
hammadu Buhari’s govern-
ment plans an imminent
devaluation, bowing to
demands of the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund in ex-
change for soft loans.
Nigeria’s oil output
dropped to 1.4 million bar-
rels a day, Oil Minister Ibe
Kachikwu said Monday,
endangering a budget
based on production of 2.2
million barrels. The slump
means Angola is now Af-
with a steady production
of nearly 1.8 million barrels while Christians who domi-
daily, according to the Or-
ganization of Petroleum Ex-
porting Countries.
Nigeria’s National Labour
Congress and the Trade
they represent 6.5 million
workers, and some civic
organizations called for a
strike Wednesday to pro-
test a 70 percent increase
in gasoline prices, prompt-
ed by the removal of a
government subsidy on gas
and shortages of foreign
currency. Nigeria is depen-
dent on imports with oil ac-
counting for 70 percent of
government revenue.
The crisis is dividing labor
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Massive protests forced Buhari took over a year
the previous government ago from President Good-
to shelve plans to do away luck Jonathan, whose
with a fuel subsidy in 2012, government is accused
when oil cost more than of looting billions of dol-
$100 a barrel. Today it is lars from state coffers.
around $40, a price raised Militants in the Niger Delta
in part by Nigerian cuts have resumed attacks and
in output. Prices of food forced oil majors to evacu-
and electrical goods have ate some workers. There
doubled while tens of thou- are reports that the new
sands of workers have group Niger Delta Aveng-
not been paid in months. ers is sponsored by politi-
Many angry Nigerians say cians in the south, where
the government could not Jonathan is from, to sabo-
have chosen a worse time tage Buhari. The president
to drop the fuel subsidy, has deployed thousands of
though shortages forced troops to the area, where
people to pay double the the Avengers are demand-
fixed price anyway. ing a greater share of oil
Despite the country’s wealth and protesting cuts
wealth, some 70 percent to a 2009 amnesty program
of Nigerians live below the that paid 30,000 militants
poverty line, according to to guard installations they
the United Nations. once attacked.q
Associated Press
leaders on religious and
ethnic lines. Those from the
mainly Muslim north, like Bu-
hari, are against the strike
nate the oil-producing
south are urging citizens to
“Occupy Nigeria!”
Unions representing oil and
electricity workers, as well
as pilots, rejected the strike
call even before the Na-
tional Industrial Court issued
a restraining order Tuesday
pending a hearing on the
justice minister’s request for
the court to rule whether
the strike is legal.
“I don’t want people to
be subjected to hardship,”
Judge Babatunde Adeju-
mo said. “There will be scar-
city of food, people may
die, students will engage in
all sorts of activities.”