Protests Continue As Talks Between Government and Labor Break Down

At today’s negotiation, Mr. Jonathan offered to reduce the price of fuel from more than N140 to N120 per liter. Labor leaders rejected the offer, calling for a restoration of the price to N65. The Jonathan
administration precipitated the protests by announcing a blanket removal of fuel subsidy, leading to a dramatic rise of fuel prices to N141.

Prior to today’s stalemated negotiations, two sources in the Jonathan Presidency told our correspondent that the president was going to agree to return subsidies pending further talks with labor in April of this year.

However, an emboldened Jonathan insisted at the talks that his government could not go below N120 as the per liter price of fuel. “I believe that pro-government labor leaders must have encouraged government to adopt that position,” said one source, adding that some representatives of labor were cozy with officials of the Jonathan government.

Indignant Nigerians are vowing to continue protests in the wake of today’s stalemate. One critic described the Jonathan administration’s policy as “a cruel and inhuman yoke on long suffering Nigerians.”

Protests have grounded commercial and other activities in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja as well as such other important cities as Kano, Lagos, Jos, and Benin.