A largely peaceful protest also occurred in Kano in the north, the Niger Delta in the southeast and in Ilorin, Kwara State, in the west.

Protesters in President Goodluck Jonathan's Niger Delta home region in the southeast, including former militants who wreaked havoc until a series of peace deals ending in 2010, blocked the Warri-Port Harcourt highway, until three vanloads of soldiers turned up to chase them away.
 

In the city of Kano, in the far north, police arrested nine demonstrators but later released them, local police spokesman Magaji Majiaya told Reuters.
 

The fuel regulator announced the end of fuel subsidies on Sunday under sweeping economic reforms meant to improve fiscal discipline in Africa's biggest oil-producing state, but a hugely unpopular act that could cause social unrest in the short term.
 

Economists say the subsidy filled the fuel tanks of middle-class motorists at the expense of the poor, encouraged massive corruption and waste, and handed over billions of dollars of government cash to a cartel of wealthy fuel importers.
 

Removing it pushed pump prices to 150 naira per litre from 65 naira overnight.
 

The subsidy removal is part of an effort to cut Nigeria's exorbitant cost of government, a flagship policy of Jonathan and his economic management team, alongside fixing the broken power sector and reducing waiting times for goods at ports.
 

Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealahas said scrapping the subsidy would save more than 1 trillion naira in 2012. Central Bank governor Lamido Sanusi supports the move.
 

But with the majority of Nigerians living on less than $2 per day, slashing subsidies is politically explosive.
 

"The prices of everything will increase - transport, housing, school fees, food, etc. The common man will not be able to survive," said Ganiat Fawehinmi, widow of a human rights lawyer.
 

The Trades Union Congress and NLC called on Sunday for mass action to repeat strikes and street protests that thwarted previous attempts to do away with subsidies.