As workers heeded the nationwide strike called by the organised labour to protest the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, the situation in Lagos on Monday was relatively calm.
However, there were pockets of protest in the usual flash points such as Mushin, Fadeyi, Jibowu and Ikorodu Road.
At Fadeyi bus stop, demonstrators burnt tyres and scores of youth were seen chanting anti- government slogans.
They also carried placards which read “N65 or nothing’’.
Officials of the NLC, TUC, NUJ, NUBIFIE and ALGON were among the protesters.
At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, customs, immigration and NDLEA officials as well as armed mobile policemen were on duty.
Two international flights operated by Arik Air and Air France landed earlier on Monday.
As at 9.40 a.m., passengers were boarding an Arik Air plane bound for London.
Nigerian Air Force personnel took over the Control Tower of the airport as air traffic controllers did not report for work.
There was no activity at the local wing of the airport as there were no plane landings or take-offs.
Traders who had earlier left their homes on Lagos mainland to open their shops on the island were seen trekking back home.
Security officials in armoured vehicles patrolled Ikorodu Road and other flash points on Lagos mainland while commercial motorcyclists operated without molestation.
In Umuahia, public and private schools, as well as state and federal secretariats were closed but markets opened for business.
Residents moved about their normal business and few commercial vehicles were seen plying the roads but security operatives were stationed in strategic places.
Streets were deserted in Kano, but hoodlums took over control as they threatened the few commuters.
All the markets and banks were shut and most people remained indoors.
In Birnin Kebbi, offices, markets and filling stations were shut and the streets deserted.
The workers of the Federal Medical Centre were on duty but the General Hospital rendered skeletal services.
The situation in Maiduguri was generally calm as residents remained indoors while security operatives patrolled the streets as the federal and state offices and markets were shut.
The NLC said on Monday in Maiduguri that it had shelved street protest in the ongoing fuel subsidy strike following appeal by security agencies in the state.
The Borno NLC Chairman, Mr Titus Abana said in Maiduguri that the strike would not involve any kind of street protest, saying, however that all other aspects of the strike would continue as scheduled.
“We have agreed to shelve the idea of street protest, mass rallies and the likes following appeals from security agencies. The appeal might not be unconnected with the current state of emergency in some areas of the state.”
“We have constituted monitoring teams going round to ensure full compliance by workers, market men and women and others. I am happy to say that the strike has so far been successful.”
Abana commended workers in both federal and state government for staying at home and urged them to remain until the strike was over.
A correspondent who went round Maiduguri metropolis, reports that both social and economic activities have been halted by the strike.
The gates at the Federal Government Secretariat as well as the State Secretariat in Maiduguri were under lock and key.
All markets were closed while taxis and commercial buses kept off the roads even as security personnel patrolled the streets.
Both federal and state radio stations were off the air in Akwa Ibom as some markets opened and others were closed.
Traffic was generally light and there was no street protest amid the tight security mounted by the operatives.
In Mubi, security personnel were on patrol as offices and markets were closed and streets deserted.
The situation was calm in Osogbo and no violence was recorded. Shops and offices remained shut and commercial motorcyclists did not operate while vehicular traffic was light.
In Auchi, Edo, filling stations and motor parks opened for business but public offices and banks were shut.
The commencement of the strike called by labour over subsidy withdrawal was almost hijacked by hoodlums in Benin on Monday when they attempted to take over the popular Bureau de change at Ire quarters on the Sapkoba Road.
Correspondents report that the victims blamed security personnel and the seeming uncoordinated labour for the incident.
One of the victims of the attack, Alhaji Mai Sokoto, told newsmen that he lost a large sum in different currencies in the vandalism.
It took the timely intervention of the Commissioner of Police, Mr David Omojola’s convoy to disperse the miscreants with teargas.
At Ibiwe and Sapele Road, the protesters burnt a motorcycle and smashed the windscreen of some cars, whose drivers forced their way through the mounted road blocks.
Some of the victims of the attack blamed the leadership of the organised labour for not ensuring proper coordination of the protest and the security personnel for not being pro-active enough.
An NGO, the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), said that the protest was against government’s failure to reverse the subsidy removal.
ANEEJ’s Executive Director, Rev. David Ogolor, said: “We urge government to stop the corruption affecting the oil industry.”
Protesters took over King Square in Benin City as the police kept watch.
Offices, banks and markets were closed while bonfires were set on major roads, including Sapele, Ekenwa, Akpakpava, Lagos and Uselu.
Ibadan was desolate as residents remained indoors, while vehicular and human traffic was low as offices and banks were shut.
Commuters were stranded as operators of commercial vehicles and motorcyclists joined the strike.
Some youths set bonfires in some major streets, including Challenge, Oke Ado and Molete.
In Gombe, the state-owned radio station was off air while offices were shut and leafs adorned the entrances in a show of sympathy with organised labour.
In Aba, the commercial nerve-centre of Abia, the Ariaria International Market opened for business while people went about their normal business.
Vehicular movement was normal as commercial vehicles and motorcycles operated.
In Anambra, the Onitsha main market opened for normal business and life in the city was normal but banks were shut.
The youth in Jigawa in their hundreds joined the nationwide protest over the removal of fuel subsidy.
The protesters displayed placards with inscriptions urging the government to reverse the price of petrol to N65 per litre.
One of the protesters, Ahmed Saádu, said that they were embarking on the peaceful demonstration to register their dismay over the recent decision of the government on the removal of subsidy.
Motorcyclists in the state put leaves on their motorcycles as a sign of solidarity with the nationwide strike.
In Dutse, offices, markets, banks and motor parks were shut, and the city was calm.
Around the state capital, motor parks were empty. Neither the officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers nor passengers were seen there.
In the main market, shops were also closed as the gate was under lock and key.
The Chairman of the NLC in Jigawa, Alhaji Usman Ya’u, said that the officials of the congress had concluded arrangements to conduct a peaceful protest.
However, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Alhaji Hashimu Sale, who visited the NLC secretariat, advised the protesters to conduct themselves peacefully during the rally.
No act of violence had so far been recorded as the protest continued.
In Jos, apart from the state secretariat which was closed, commercial vehicles and motorcycles went about their normal business.
Correspondent, who went round the city and its environs, observed that aside the closure of government and some private institutions, other basic businesses went on as usual.
Along major highways, vehicular movement was normal, while commercial motorcyclists operated, as usual, on the major highways.
M. Jibrin Bancir, the Plateau NLC Chairman, who addressed journalists in Jos on the strike action, however, directed members of the public to embark on an indefinite “sit-at-home strike.
“All offices, public and private, banks, markets, filling stations, transport sectors, should close down indefinitely.
“We will be on strike until fuel price is reversed to N65 per litre,” Bancir said.
The NLC chairman said that organised labour would not engage the Belgore Committee in any negotiation until subsidy removal was reviewed.
He, however, said that in view of the security situation in Plateau, the NLC would not hold a procession.
“We, however, have some few men on the streets just to monitor situations,“ he said.
Trade Union Congress Chairman, Austine Agbo, who also spoke to newsmen, noted that the organized labour did not trust the government because the money realised from the withdrawal of diesel and kerosene had never been accounted for.
Most motor parks, including Benue Links, and the Plateau Riders- run by Plateau government– were locked.
Heavy security presence, especially at road junctions, premises of government establishments, banks, markets, parks and central business Area at Ahmadu Bello Way in the city centre.
Our reporter also observed security presence around Churches and Mosques as well as filling stations.
Hospitals opened for normal service while security operatives were stationed in strategic places.
The Plateau NLC Chairman, Mr Jibril Bancir, said the officials were still consulting over the strike.
In Minna, there was calm as protesters marched through the streets.
Also in Lokoja, the streets were deserted, while markets, offices and schools remained closed as residents trekked long distances to their destinations.
In Sokoto, banks and all public offices were closed.
A correspondent who went round the city and its environs reports that the state and federal secretariats were closed.
The streets were also deserted as most of the residents remained indoors.
Security operatives were seen keeping watch to ensure that there was no threat to peace or destruction of public and private property.
Asked for his reaction to the strike, Ahaji Danyaro Tambuwal, the state NLC Chairman, said: “So far, so good.
“We are liaising with the various security agencies to ensure that everything is conducted peacefully.
“There is no going back until we hear any contrary directive from our national headquarters.’’
Tambuwal, however, criticised officials of the NURTW for not participating in the strike.
“The action is condemnable as they have abandoned the cause of the masses of Nigeria.’’
Shops and business centres in Damaturu were shut on Monday following the stay at home order by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), to protest the removal of fuel subsidy.
The situation was also the same in Potiskum where the streets remained deserted, just as security operatives continue with their routine patrol of the area.
The Yobe NLC Chairman, Malam Lawan Bukar, said in Damaturu that the workers would not go on procession, but remain at home in view of the security situation in the state.
“We are not engaging in any form of gathering because of the security situation in the state. We have directed our members to stay at home as a form of observing the industrial action”, he said.
Shops and business centres in the state capital have for long remained closed, due to the protracted security challenges that bedeviled the state in the last two months.
A resident, Alhaji Abubakar Garba, said, “we have stayed off our duty posts in respect to the call by the NLC, but we are also being very careful of the situation, in view of the insecurity being experienced across the state”, he said.