Kolawole Adeosun slept overnight in his minibus waiting to buy petrol in Nigeria's largest city Lagos, but he supports the strike which has caused the fuel scarcity across Africa's top oil producer.
The strike by fuel tanker drivers, which was in its fourth day on Sunday, is a prelude to an indefinite general strike due to start on Wednesday in the world's eighth largest oil exporter to protest against rising prices and privatisations.
"We slept here in the queue - see the mosquito bites on my arm. But I support the strike. The president should bring the fuel price down," said Adeosun, a 34-year-old bus driver.
Days before leaving office on May 29, former president Olusegun Obasanjo increased fuel prices by 15 percent, doubled value-added tax and privatised two oil refineries.
Talks between the newly inaugurated government of President Umaru Yar'Adua and unions on Friday ended in stalemate. The senior staff Trades Union Congress (TUC) has already decided to down tools at midnight on Tuesday, and the junior staff Nigeria Labour Congress is expected to agree the same start time at a meeting of its top executive on Monday.
"The strike takes off at midnight on Tuesday. The oil industry will be part of it," said TUC president Peter Esele, who is also head of one of two big oil unions.
Oil exports will be halted by the strike, because unions will withdraw regulators from the Department of Petroleum Resources from the country's oil loading terminals, he added. Nigerian exports of two million barrels a day make up about 90 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings.
"The strike will go on until the government responds to our demands," Esele added.
STRIKES BUILD SLOWLY:
Previous strikes in Nigeria have had a limited impact on oil operations, because they tend to build strength slowly and are normally resolved within a few days.
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