Just out from Reuters:
- NIGERIA'S LABOUR UNION LEADERS SAY STRIKE SUSPENDED - RTRS
Minor down tick in crude on the news, maybe because everyone is still sleeping. So, does this mean that the Iran embargo is back on, and the joint US-Israel wargames are set to resume as "budgetary" conditions have loosened?
More from Reuters:
Nigerian trade unions called off strikes and protests on Monday, pulling Africa's top oil producer back from a major confrontation after President Goodluck Jonathan announced a cut in petrol prices by a third.
His move partially reinstated a fuel subsidy, the scrapping of which was a key policy of Jonathan and his economic team. But it slashes the cost of the benefit to the government and leaves open negotiations to phase it out again later.
Jonathan said fixing the litre price at 97 naira ($0.60) was a short-term response to ease hardships.
"In the past eight days through strikes, mass rallies, shutdown, debates and street protests, Nigerians demonstrated clearly that they cannot be taken for granted and that sovereignty belongs to them," Abdulwahed Omar, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said during a press conference.
"Labour and its allies formally announce the suspension of strikes, mass rallies and protests across the country."
Jonathan met union leaders late on Sunday in search of a compromise to end the strikes but he said later the talks had "yielded no tangible result" and he would pursue a policy of removing subsidies which he says breeds waste and corruption.
"The government will continue to pursue full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. However, given the hardships being suffered by Nigerians, and after due consideration and consultations ... the government has approved the reduction of the pump price of petrol," he said in a national broadcast.
Residents of Nigeria's biggest city Lagos reported soldiers in the streets in an apparent security move to contain any further protests.