Nigeria's biggest union will hold a nationwide strike on Tuesday and Wednesday this week to protest against the rising cost of living triggered by the removal of a fuel subsidy by new President Bola Tinubu.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) also warned it would shut down Africa's biggest oil producer and the continent’s largest economy starting this month by staging an indefinite strike by millions of its members across the country. 

A meeting of its executive council resolved to embark on "a total and indefinite shutdown of the nation within 14 working days or 21 days from today" until the government takes steps to address the impact of the rising cost of living, it said in a statement on Friday.

Following Tinubu's decision to eliminate gasoline subsidies after his inauguration in late May, transport and food prices in Africa's most populous country have soared, angering unions and the general public. Fuel consumption has dropped sharply, the oil regulator has said.

The naira has weakened sharply against the dollar as a consequence of Tinubu’s policy to allow the currency to float freely in the market, exacerbating inflation, which reached an 18-year record of  24.08% in the year to July. 

Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy saying the government could not afford it any longer. 

In 2022, the government spent $10 billion on the subsidy - causing widening budget deficits and soaring government debt.

He has since conceded that Nigeria’s economy was going through a “tough patch” following his new polices, but said the long-term impact on the economy of doing away with the costly subsidy would be positive. 

(Editing by Seban Scaria seban.scaria@lseg.com )