Nigerian strike to pause as talks seek to avert oil shutdown

A nationwide strike and mass protests shut down Nigeria for a fifth day running Friday, but union leaders called for a weekend pause to both actions as talks sought to avert a halt in oil production. Meanwhile, the main protest site in the economic capital Lagos was turned into a giant prayer ground, with some 2,000 Muslims showing up with mats and containers of water to wash themselves for Friday afternoon prayers. They were in addition to more than 10,000 other protesters at the site on Friday who danced and sang anti-government songs before beginning to filter out as the prayers began. Unrest also flared in the town of Bodinga in Sokoto state in the far north of Nigeria when a district electoral office was burned amid protests, residents said. A first round of negotiations between labour leaders and top government officials, including President Goodluck Jonathan, failed to reach a deal on Thursday night over soaring fuel prices, but more talks are set for Saturday.  Union officials said the break in talks until then was to allow for labour officials from across the country to gather in Abuja and meet on the way forward. With domestic flights grounded, they would be forced to come by road. The main oil workers' union has threatened to shut crude production beginning on Sunday if the government does not reverse a move that ended fuel subsidies on January 1, more than doubling pump prices in Africa's top crude exporter. Although the strike has paralysed Africa's most populous country and brought tens of thousands on to the streets, oil workers have so far not moved to halt output of crude, the country's economic lifeline. Babatunde Ogun, president of the 20,000-strong PENGASSAN oil workers' union, said the threat to begin shutting down production on Sunday remained, though it would be called off if the two sides reached a deal. He said the action would consist of beginning to withdraw the some 3,000 union workers currently operating on oil platforms. An official with the state oil firm NPPC however refused to even discuss a potential shutdown, saying he was confident a deal would be reached in time.  Kayode Tinouye, an analyst with Lagos-based Afrinvest, said "a shutdown of oil production in Nigeria means a potential loss of at least three percent of global oil production." OPEC member Nigeria produces more than two million barrels per day and is a key supplier of crude to the United States and European Union. While protests pushed ahead on Friday, labour leaders said there would be a pause over the weekend. Nigeria Labour Congress president Abdulwahed Omar however told a rally in the capital Abuja that Monday will see "the mother of all crowds" if the government does not backtrack. The two-day suspension was aimed in part at allowing Nigerians to stock up on food, with few options available throughout the last week.  Markets in many areas since Monday risked the wrath of protesters or youth gangs if they tried to open, though some managed to sell goods. Government officials and economists say removing subsidies was essential and will allow much of the $8 billion per year in savings to be ploughed into projects to improve the country's woefully inadequate infrastructure. But Nigerians are united in anger against the removal of subsidies, which they view as their only benefit from the nation's oil wealth. There is also deep mistrust of government after years of blatant corruption. Labour officials have said the government had offered to reduce petrol prices to 120 naira per litre ($0.74, 0.58 euros) -- down from the current 140 or more -- but unions have not yet accepted it. At the main protest ground in Lagos on Friday, the organised prayer by Muslims marked a symbolic moment for Nigeria, which has been hit by religious violence in recent weeks, mainly in the north. The strike and protests have put the government under mounting pressure as it also seeks to stop spiralling attacks blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram, which have raised tensions and led to warnings of civil war. Lagos however, a giant city of some 15 million people, includes a mix of all of Nigeria's ethnic groups and religions and has so far not seen such violence. More than 80 Christians have been killed in bomb and gun attacks in recent weeks, most of them attributed to Boko Haram. A raid on a Muslim village in the northeastern state of Adamawa late Thursday saw a mob kill two people and burn mosques and homes. A curfew was slapped on trouble spots.