Since Monday Nigeria has been hit by a nationwide strike in protest at the government's removal of a subsidy on oil prices.

Tens of thousands of Nigerians have taken to the streets across the country. They are angry not just at what amounts to a doubling of petrol prices but are also calling for an end to decades of corruption and economic mismanagement.

The protesters have vowed to keep up the indefinite strike until the the fuel subsidy is restored, but the government of President Goodluck Jonathan shows no sign of backing down. On Wednesday, it said it would withhold pay from civil servants who join the stoppage.

Also on Wednesday, oil workers threatened to shut down output, a move which would further increase the pressure on the government. Nigeria exports over 2 million barrels of crude oil per day and is a major supplier to the United States and Europe. Oil industry officials said a complete halt to oil exports was unlikely because processes are automated and not all workers were union members. However, concerns abroad about the supply could well be reflected in global oil prices.

Economists say that maintaining the subsidy would have set the country, which has a population of 160 million, on the road to bankruptcy. However, analysts also say it could have been removed in stages, thereby reducing the pain and minimizing the opposition among the population at large. Many people in Nigeria live on less than $2 (1.57 euros) a day.

Protests have mostly been peaceful, but there have been deadly confrontations with police in Lagos and the second largest city, Kano.

President Jonathan has also come under attack for failing to neutralize the militant islamist group Boko Haram, whose declared aim is to impose sharia rule throughout the country which is divided into a largely Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. Christmas saw the start of a fresh series of deadly attacks on Christians which have provoked reprisals against Muslims.

The Nigerian Red Cross says more than 8,000 people were displaced following an attack on Tuesday on a mosque and a Koran school in the southern city of Benin. The attack left five people dead and several more injured.

According to the German branch of the Society for Threatened Peoples, at least 27 people have been killed in Nigeria as a result of religiously-motivated violencesince the start of the week. The Society's Ulrich Delius warns that the risk of civil war is growing.

Author: Susan Houlton (dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Mark Caldwell / rm