STORY: A nationwide strike in Nigeria got off to a slow start on Wednesday (August 2).

Most businesses were open, although reduced traffic in some spots was observed.

A few hundred placard-carrying protesters marched in the capital Abuja.

The country's labor unions are protesting against the removal of a petrol subsidy and demand a new minimum wage.

Benson Upah is the union NLC head of information and public affairs.

"Mr. President knows our demands. They are well articulated and they have been submitted to him. he should do the needful. We are protesting to save the poor from further death."

President Bola Tinubu has embarked on the country's boldest reforms in decades, scrapping the popular but expensive subsidy and relaxing foreign exchange regime.

The reforms have been welcomed by investors.

But unions say they have led to soaring costs at a time when Nigerians are already grappling with the highest inflation in nearly two decades.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria's two main labor federations, represent millions of workers across most sectors of Africa's biggest economy, including parts of the oil industry.

The unions have said the strike will last one week, but they may struggle to sustain the protest...

...as tens of millions are employed in largely informal sectors of the economy that have no union representation.