Nigerians protesting the oil subsidy cut (XINHUA)

People protest

The subsidy withdrawal and subsequent rise in costs has hit Nigerians hard and caused much anger as this was seen as the people's only benefit from the nation's oil wealth. People have taken to march across major parts of the country such as Lagos, Kano, Kwara, Bauchi, Ondo, Benin, Abeokuta and Abuja in protest. Peaceful protests have turned violent and one of the enduring slogans on the streets is, "Remove Corruption, Not Subsidy." Market vendors, youths, members of the Nigeria Labor Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, civil society organizations under the umbrella of the Coalition to Save Nigeria have all hit the streets in their tens of thousands. The protesters called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwoala and the drastic reduction in the cost of governance, of which the savings could be used to fund development projects and the welfare of Nigerians. A call was also made to jettison all market fundamentalist policies/programs of the IMF and World Bank. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long urged the Federal Government to remove the subsidy.

Union threats to shut down Nigeria's oil output could have a major impact on the economy and global oil prices.

Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters the strikes by the country's unions were costing the economy more than $600 million a day, while negotiations take place at senior government level.

The country's House of Representatives has called on the government to reinstate fuel subsidies, but economists say the subsidy encouraged corruption and waste and handed billions of dollars of government cash to a cartel of wealthy fuel importers. While the House of Representatives cannot stop the Federal Government from removing subsidies, vocal opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan's policy comes at a time when the president is already short of supporters.

Economic experts, including Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Federal Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonji-Iweala, Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources Deziani Allison-Madueke, among others, in a recent television debate with representatives of the Civil Liberty Organization all supported the fuel subsidy.