Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, came to a standstill yesterday as workers went on general strike over 50 per cent petroleum product price rises that follow from an IMF reregulation strategy removing subsidies.
The oil industry, a mainstay of the economy, was unaffected and production and loadings continued, oil officials said.
Leaders of the umbrella Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) ordered the indefinite strike after talks with the government broke down just before dawn.
Neither side would disclose a later government offer but officials on both sides had said President Olusegun Obasanjo offered to moderate the increase announced last week.
The impact of the strike in the north of the country was reported to be mixed.
Banks, shops, schools and open-air markets in Lagos, a city of over 10 million people, remained shut. Marauding gangs of youths mounted pickets at major bus stops and turned back taxis, buses and commuters trying to venture into the central business district.
Youths wielding broken bottles and clubs robbed motorists at roadblocks on bridges linking Lagos Island, where the central commercial district is, with populous mainland districts separated by a lagoon.
Similar scenes were reported from the equally paralysed sprawling city of Ibadan north of Lagos. The industrialised southwest, which includes Lagos and Ibadan, is a traditional area of worker militancy.
But in the northern city of Kaduna, recovering from two bouts of religious clashes that killed hundreds earlier this year, businesses were open although government workers obeyed the strike call, residents said.
Government offices were deserted in the capital, Abuja, but private businesses were open.
Mr Obasanjo, who came to office a year ago when 15 years of military rule ended, has said the government can no longer justify petroleum subsidies amounting to 200 billion Nigerian naira (1.60 billion) annually.
The NLC president, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, said the NLC would not back down on its demand that petrol prices must revert to their original 20 naira per litre price from the new level of 35 naira.
Asked in a BBC radio interview whether he was concerned about the paralysis and chaos in Lagos and outlying regions, Mr Oshiomhole blamed Mr Obasanjo.
The higher fuel price is part of Mr Obasanjo's economic policy of deregulation and ending subsidies as demanded by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for a $1 billion standby loan it has agreed.
IMF endorsement of Mr Obasanjo's policies could also help Nigeria's campaign for relief from $31 billion in foreign debt.
Petrol prices are sensitive in Africa's most populous nation with 108 million people. Citizens see cheap petrol and kerosene as the only tangible benefit from governments unable to deliver amenities such as water and electricity.