09 January 2012, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – Reports indicate that Nigeria’s major cities of Capital city, Abuja; commercial capital, Lagos; oil city, Port Harcourt; and northern city of Kaduna as well as others have been shut down by the general strike and protests called by the nation’s organisedlabour.
The reports said offices are closed and streets are deserted by vehicles but taken over by protesters.
There has been no flight out of or into the country’s main airport in Lagos. The roads to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport have been blocked since early morning by the protesters. Besides, workers did not resume for work. The Nigerian Air force men deployed for skeletal services are idle.
The strike was called by Labour and civil society groups to protest the New Year’s Day’s withdrawal of petrol subsidy by the government.
In Kaduna, human rights activist Shehu Sani and opposition politician Balarabe Musa led the protest.
