The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress this afternoon called off the nationwide strike embarked upon by the two unions on January 9, 2012.

The strike action had
followed the increase in
petrol price that came
about following
government's withdrawal
of the subsidy on petrol.
The Federal Government
had announced early this
morning that it had now
pegged the price of
petrol at N97, keeping
the subsidy in place,
despite earlier insisting
on total removal.
Protests had trailed the
announcement on
January 1 and had
gained momentum with the
strike by the two unions.
Huge rallies had been
witnessed around the
country, as well as
destruction by rioters of
private and public
property, and the loss of
lives of some 20
protesters across the
country.

Thee NLC President,
Abdulwaheed Omar, said
that in the last 24 hours,
Labour and its allies "had
cause to review the
various actions and
decided that in order to
save lives and in the
interest of national
survival, (its) mass
actions be suspended."
He also said labour listed
gains made by labour as
the reduction of the price
from N141 to N97 despite
government's earlier
insistence that it will not
shift ground,
government's adoption of
a policy to reduce cost of
governance, the getting
the government to "move
against the massive and
crippling corruption in the
oil sector", and the vow
by the federal
government to bring to
justice all those who
contributed in one way or
the other "to the
economic adversity of the
country."