ABUJA (AFP) - In a bid to calm a rising tide of public anger ahead of a threatened general strike, President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered Nigeria's state oil firm to cut the price of kerosene cooking fuel.
Labour unions and civil society groups have vowed to bring Africa's most populous country to a halt from Tuesday, when they will launch their latest nationwide general strike in protest at rising fuel prices.
Obasanjo has steadfastly refused to review a decision he took in October last year to remove price caps and subsidies from petrol and diesel but he did give some ground on Friday over the rising price of kerosene.
A statement released by the president's office described it as "absolutely unacceptable" that "kerosene, which is used by millions of ordinary Nigerians for cooking and lighting their homes, should cost more than petrol."
The statement said that Obasanjo had ordered that the national fuel company import more kerosene and sell it at a cheaper price, but did not say when and by how much the price would fall.
Meanwhile, in a separate public message to mark the Muslim festival of Eid el-Fitr, Obasanjo called on Nigerians to ignore the strike call and do more to support his unpopular programme of economic reforms.
On September 23 the pump price of petrol, diesel and kerosene jumped by around a quarter to more than 55 naira (40 cents) per litre.
Unions and civil rights groups have said that their strike will continue until Obasanjo finds a way to reverse the price rise and have warned that they could disrupt Nigeria's exports of around 2.5 million barrels of oil per day.
11/12/2004 - 17:45 GMT - AFP