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LAGOS - Businesses and offices reopened in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos and other major cities on Friday after a general strike over gasoline price increases had shut down much of the country for the two previous days.

The umbrella trade union movement, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), called off the strike on Thursday in the face of crumbling public support and a government crackdown on those who persisted in picketing after a court ruled the strike illegal.

Activity in the central business districts of Lagos picked up as street markets resumed, while traffic built up on most city roads early on Friday as commuter buses returned.

The end of the strike appeared to be a significant victory for President Olusegun Obasanjo and his plan to deregulate the sale of petroleum products and save the government more than $2 billion a year in fuel subsidies.

It was a blow to the labour movement, which had failed in its threat to make Nigeria ungovernable if the petrol price increases of between 18 and 35 percent were not reversed.

NLC officials said they had called off the strike to respect the court ruling and secure the release of their president, Adams Oshiomhole, who was in police custody. He was arrested for a second time in two days on Thursday, accused of disrupting public order.

Nigerian union leaders began a two-day meeting on Friday to review the failed strike, newspapers said. Nampa-Reuters

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