The Nigerian government is well placed to win a dispute with unions over fuel prices and any strike is unlikely to hit oil supplies from the world's No 8 exporter, analysts and industry executives said on Thursday.
The lack of political opposition, the government's readiness to use strong-arm tactics with security services and a weakening of union powers all point to a one-sided battle, they said.
The umbrella union body, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Wednesday called a general strike in response to a 30 percent increase in pump prices, with the date to be decided in consultation with civil society groups on Monday.
"The government has pushed through an increase when the unions are weakest," said Abubakar Momoh, political science lecturer at Lagos State University. "The unions have clearly demonstrated that they cannot mobilise the Nigerian people against these irrational increases."
Despite widespread popular outrage at rising living costs, formal opposition to the ruling People's Democratic Party is almost non-existent. And dissent within the party has so far had no impact on policy, which is firmly in the hands of free-marketeer Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
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