LAGOS (Reuters) – “Nigeria is not Animal Farm!” read one placard brandished during days of furious fuel price protests by Nigerians which have combined with a violent Islamist insurgency to move Africa’s top oil producer closer to what many fear may be a breaking point.

The same political vices of corrupt leadership and abuse of power which George Orwell skewered in his 1945 novella “Animal Farm” have corroded Nigeria’s politics since independence from Britain in 1960. Angry popular backlash against these is fuelling the latest violence and unrest in the African continent’s most populous state.

LAGOS (Reuters) – “Nigeria is not Animal Farm!” read one placard brandished during days of furious fuel price protests by Nigerians which have combined with a violent Islamist insurgency to move Africa’s top oil producer closer to what many fear may be a breaking point.

The same political vices of corrupt leadership and abuse of power which George Orwell skewered in his 1945 novella “Animal Farm” have corroded Nigeria’s politics since independence from Britain in 1960. Angry popular backlash against these is fuelling the latest violence and unrest in the African continent’s most populous state.

LAGOS/ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s main oil union said Thursday it would shut down output from Africa’s biggest oil producer Sunday if the government did not reverse its decision to remove publicly popular fuel subsidies.

Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been protesting up and down Africa’s most populous nation for four straight days in protest against the axing of the petrol subsidy, which more than doubled the price to around 150 naira ($0.93) per liter.

LAGOS (Reuters) – A showdown between Nigeria’s government and unions over a more than doubling of motor fuel prices paralysed the country for a third day on Wednesday, with neither side showing any sign of backing down.

Streets of the normally heaving commercial capital Lagos were largely deserted, apart from youths at roadblocks trying to prevent cars moving, groups of protesters and a few hand-to-mouth traders who must work to survive selling fruit juice or mobile phone credit.

LAGOS, Jan 11 (Reuters) – A showdown between Nigeria’s
government and unions over a more than doubling of motor fuel
prices paralysed the country for a third day on Wednesday,
making it the longest national strike in Nigerian history.

Streets of the normally heaving commercial capital Lagos
were largely deserted, apart from youths at roadblocks trying to
prevent cars moving, groups of protesters and a few
hand-to-mouth traders who must work to survive selling fruit
juice or mobile phone credit.

LAGOS (Reuters) – A bitter showdown between Nigeria’s government and unions with popular backing enters its third day on Wednesday, with workers vowing to stay on strike unless a motor fuel subsidy is restored, and authorities threatening to withhold their pay.

Two days of strikes and protests have strangled Africa’s second biggest economy, besieged people in their homes and on occasion erupted into lethal violence.

LAGOS/KANO (Reuters) – Religiously motivated attacks killed 13 people in Nigeria on Tuesday, as tens of thousands took to the streets in a second day of nationwide protests against the scrapping of a fuel subsidy that has nearly doubled petrol prices.

A mob killed five people in a mosque in Benin City in the south while in the north, Islamist militants shot dead eight people in a bar.

LAGOS/KANO (Reuters) – A mob killed five people in an attack on a mosque in southern Nigeria on Tuesday, as swelling numbers took to the streets in a second day of nationwide protests against the scrapping of a fuel subsidy that has nearly doubled petrol prices.

An aid worker whose organisation operates in the area, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the attack on a mosque in Benin City had forced 3,000 Muslims of northern origin to flee.

LAGOS, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Nigerian unions launch a
nationwide strike on Monday to protest against the axing of a
fuel subsidy which many ordinary people saw as one of the few
benefits they ever got from the state.

Nigeria’s fuel regulator announced the end of the subsidy on
Jan. 1 as part of efforts to cut government spending and
encourage badly needed investment in local refining.

ABUJA, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Strikes and protests across
Nigeria against a hike in fuel prices are unlikely to disrupt
oil output in Africa’s biggest exporter, industry players said,
further calming supply fears after Royal Dutch Shell
restarted two large fields.

But a force majeure on Bonny Light crude oil exports on
Thursday underscored the fragility of production in Nigeria, a
key oil supplier to the U.S. and Europe.