Labor unions threatened to begin a four day strike on October 11th to protest the government increasing the price of gasoline from $1.19 a gallon to $1.50. The government had long kept the price of petroleum prices artificially low as a popular measure. But this led to a large amount of oil smuggling to neighboring countries, where the prices were much higher. This, in turn, led to shortages in Nigeria. The government solution, raising the price, while logical, is not very popular.