Nigeria's trade unions for emergency meeting

Both sides in the Nigerian fuel strike have expressed the hope that talks today will bear fruit.

The strike -- over a steep rise in the price of fuel -- has paralysed business in most cities for the past four days.

Radio Nigeria quoted the Information Minister, Jerry Gana as saying he thought the strike would be resolved today, following intensive talks with the unions yesterday.

A union spokesman told the French news agency he hoped the government would back down.

The unions rejected an earlier offer to cut the price rise to about twenty-five per cent instead of fifty.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service