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Mid-day Update

Mid-day Extra: Protests in Nigeria over oil subsidy cuts

Jeremy Hobson Jan 9, 2012

Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning, and the price of gas down on Sunset had risen from $3.49 to over $7 bucks a gallon.

That’s the kind of situation that Nigerians are now finding themselves in.

Last week, we learned that the government of the oil-rich African nation decided to put an end to fuel subsidies. And now Nigerians are fighting back: labor unions there have begun a national strike today.

In today’s Mid-day Extra, we’ve brought in Marketplace’s own senior foreign editor to give us some more details on the situation there. He says that for gas prices to double, especially in such an oil rich country, can have catastrophic results on everyday life for Nigerians — and why we should care.

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