Video - 120 killed in bomb blasts in Kano, Nigeria

The death toll has risen from the series of co-ordinated bombings and attacks in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

According to the government and the Red Cross, at least 120 people were killed. Hospital officials say more than 140 died.

The city has been put under a curfew after police stations across the city were targeted on Friday.

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President Goodluck Jonathan apologizes to international community over fuel subsidy protests

  

The Federal Government yesterday apologised to members of the diplomatic community and the international community resident in Nigeria for the inconveniences caused by the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and the protests.

President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking during the Annual Diplomatic launch held at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, assured that the government will work hard to ensure this does not repeat itself. He added that the experience of the past week has made Nigeria stronger and better.

'We will make sure we work hard to ensure we will not experience that again. We appreciate your understanding, I know some people must have come to you and send all kinds of messages to your various governments. I believe that you know that the position of the government is the best for the people.

'I can assure you that it has even made us stronger and indeed better. We promise that we will continue to grow from strength to strength and the incident of last week, we have put them behind us and we are moving forward. We will not experience that kind of situation again,' he said.

The president also said government will ensure that while adjusting the pump price subsequently, it will not do it in a way that will bring suffering to the people. 'We know we were misunderstood; prices couldn't have gone up that way. But that is a human society and is a human factor.' he said.

He said, 'I regret the inconveniences some of you passed through because of the government attempt to see the way we can look at our oil industry by adjusting the pump price and the issue of deregulating the oil sector that led to demonstrations by labour and civil societies.

I believed some of you suffered some inconveniences because you couldn't go out for a week, you couldn't visit people you would have loved to visit.'

While recalling the bombing of the United Nations building by members of the Boko Haram sect, he said Nigeria will continue to work together with the members of the diplomatic corps and their organisations and countries to ensure world peace.

'Let me assure all of you that Nigeria will continue to maintain a very warm relationship with all the organisations and all the countries in spite of our experiences with the Boko Haram. Nigerian government is totally committed to the maintenance of peace and order in line with UN Charter.

'We believe that all citizens of the world should live freely and peacefully wherever they find themselves. We will work with you and all your countries and organisations to make sure that the world is a place where all of us will live without fear or favour,'he stated.

He stressed that the world over was facing similar challenges, but 'collectively, we will work towards that.'

He thanked them for the role they played during last year's elections and assured that democracy has not just come to stay in Nigeria, 'but democracy that is sanctioned by an election that is credible, election that is free and fair. And using our own slogan, election that the votes of Nigerians must count, where we say one man one vote, one woman one vote and one youth one vote.'

He noted that 'democracy that is not dictated by the vote of the people is not good democracy, adding that until the votes of the people account that is when we can say this is a democracy.

And I believe also that it is difficult for you to topple such a democracy because it is the people that elect those that are ruling. But if people impose themselves on ordinary people of course such a democracy may not be able to stand on a solid ground.

'With a little turbulence such a government will fall. In Nigeria we are totally committed to democracy and enduring democratic culture that the votes of individuals will count.

At the end of our elections in April, we did promise the whole world that our subsequent elections will even be better and promising. But as we march towards 2015 for another round of elections, the elections will be conducted better than the elections in 2011,' he said.

Earlier the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Yamego Dramane, the Ambassador of Burkina Faso to Nigeria, commiserated with the President on the happening of the past week, stating that Nigeria, which is playing a major role not only in Africa but the world over, has their support.

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 National strike called off by Nigerian unions

President Goodluck Jonathan slashes price of petrol by 30 percent in response to protests

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday announced a 30% cut in petrol prices as soldiers moved to disperse activists in a bid to end more than a week of nationwide strikes called by unions to protest against the end of fuel subsidies.

Nigerian soldiers seized protest sites and used armoured vehicles to disperse demonstrators after the president watered down a hike in petrol prices Monday in a bid to end an eight-day nationwide strike.

About 1,000 protesters in the economic capital Lagos had gathered on a road near the main protest site, which armed soldiers seized early on Monday. None of the protesters appeared to have been wounded.

Some 10,000 protesters had been gathering daily at the main site last week.

Troops began by driving trucks toward the protesters, but later used armoured vehicles, an AFP correspondent reported. Around 200 demonstrators were seeking to regroup nearby, but soldiers were moving in their direction.

Soldiers also Monday seized the main protest site in the capital Abuja where hundreds of people had been gathering daily, an AFP journalist reported.

President Goodluck Jonathan announced Monday that petrol prices would be cut by about a third in a bid to end the strike triggered after the government removed fuel subsidies. 

Unions vowed to press ahead with the strike which is now in its second week but called off street protests in response to security concerns voiced by Jonathan. However demonstrations have been organised by a range of civil society and political groups.

A number of groups vowed to continue protests.

Jonathan announced the price cut in a televised national address after a week that saw him remain largely silent in public as the strike and mass protests shut down Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.

The president's announcement came after talks with unions had failed to resolve the dispute, with labour leaders demanding a return to pre-January 1 petrol prices.

He charged that the protests had been "hijacked" by those seeking to promote "discord, anarchy and insecurity".

"Government will continue to pursue full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector," Jonathan said in his address.

"However, given the hardships being suffered by Nigerians, and after due consideration and consultations with state governors and the leadership of the National Assembly, government has approved the reduction of the pump price of petrol to 97 naira (about 60 US cents) per litre."

He added: "I urge our labour leaders to call off their strike and go back to work."

The government had ended fuel subsidies on January 1, causing petrol prices to more than double from 65 naira per litre to 140 naira or more, sparking the strike and protests that began on January 9.

Most in the country of some 160 million people live on less than two dollars a day, and Nigerians weary after years of blatant corruption view the subsidies as their only benefit from the nation's oil wealth.

Besides seizing main protest sites, soldiers on Monday also set up roadblocks at key points in the economic capital Lagos for the first time since the protests began, stopping cars and searching them.

One senior police officer at the main Lagos protest site made no pretense of the aim of the deployment.

"It is total surrender to the might of the federal government," he said. "They cannot come here again today in view of this situation."

One protest organiser said musical instruments were destroyed at the site, where Seun Kuti, son of late legendary musician and harsh government critic Fela Kuti, had been playing regularly.

"Soldiers have destroyed our instruments in Ojota and brought down our stage," said rights activist Jo Okei-Odumakin. 

She added: "I have been receiving strange calls threatening me with death. They send these texts to me with unknown numbers."

Jonathan had late Sunday sought a deal with labour leaders aimed at ending the strike. Unions did not call off the strike after the talks, but said they were cancelling street protests after Jonathan expressed security concerns.

Nigeria Labour Congress chief Abdulwahed Omar said: "We came to a conclusion that we will stay at home, that is stay off the streets, in order to make sure that we don't in the first instance endanger innocent lives because of the security situation in the country."

Nigeria has faced spiralling violence, most of it in the country's north and blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram, prompting warnings of a wider religious conflict and even the possibility of civil war.

But the main fuel protests have been largely peaceful, although at least 15 people are believed to have been killed in various incidents.

While the strike was suspended for the weekend, labour leaders had warned it would resume Monday if a deal had not been reached. An earlier threat to shut down oil production however has been put on hold.

Government officials and economists have said removing subsidies would allow much of the $8 billion a year in savings to be ploughed into projects to improve the country's woefully inadequate infrastructure.

AFP

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National strike called off by Nigerian unions

Union leaders in Nigeria have called off a week-long nationwide strike that has been paralysing the country's economy, following a decision by Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, to roll back fuel-price increases.

Jonathan announced on Monday that he would reduce fuel prices, while soldiers moved to shut down demonstrations in the country's major cities. 

His government will reduce the prices by 30 per cent, to around $2.75 per gallon, by restoring some subsidies that it removed at the beginning of January. Prices will still be considerably higher than they were before the subsidies were removed. 

The removal of subsidies sparked street protests and, as of last week, the national strike. Unions announced early on Monday morning that they would halt protests after being warned by Jonathan that "people outside organised labour may try to hijack" the demonstrations, Abdulwahed Omar, the head of Nigeria Labour Congress, said.

Earlier security forces opend fire into the air and used tear gas to disperse protesters in the country's commercial capital, Lagos, and other parts of the country.

An AFP news agency correspondent said soldiers first shot into the air to disperse the protesters before police fired tear gas, forcing them to flee. No injuries were reported.

'Protests hijacked'

In an address on national television, Jonathan said provocateurs had hijacked the protests and demonstrations, which had seen tens of thousands march in cities across the nation.

"It has become clear to government and all well-meaning Nigerians that other interests beyond the implementation of the deregulation policy have hijacked the protest,'' he said.

"This has prevented an objective assessment and consideration of all the contending issues for which dialogue was initiatefd by government. These same interests seek to promote discord, anarchy, and insecurity to the detriment of public peace.''

The nationwide strike and protests since January 9 have brought much of Africa's most populous country to a standstill.

While the strike was suspended for the weekend, labour leaders warned it would resume on Monday if a deal had not been reached. An earlier threat to shut down oil production however has been put on hold.

Roots of crisis

Unions launched the strike after the government deregulated the downstream petroleum sector and ended fuel subsidies on January 1, which more than doubled petrol prices overnight, angering many who saw the subsidies as one of the few public benefits of the country's oil wealth.

The costs of food and transportation also largely doubled in a nation where most people live on less than $2 a day.

At least 10 people have died as a result of the violence, while Red Cross volunteers have treated more than 600 people injured, officials said.

Jonathan and other government officials had argued that removing the subsidies, which were estimated to cost $8bn a year, would allow the government to spend money on badly needed public projects across a country that has pot-holed roads, little electricity and a lack of clean drinking water in many areas.

However, many remain suspicious of government as military rulers and politicians have plundered government budgets since independence from Britain in 1960.

Aljazeera

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