Nigeria's biggest oil workers have threatened to shut Nigeria's oil rigs starting with work stoppages on Sunday, as anger grows over President Goodluck Jonathan's axing of fuel subsidies for ordinary people.

If the union follows through, analysts estimate that Nigeria's oil output could fall by between several hundred thousand and a million barrels a day. Nigeria produces two million barrels of crude daily, accounting for 95% of its export revenue, yet about 70% of Nigerians persist on just $2 a day or less.

The Wall Street Journal warned its readers: "Some analysts warn that even if Mr. Jonathan were to restore part of the subsidy, the concession wouldn't be enough to satisfy the thousands of protesters, who have turned city centers into caldrons of antigovernment sentiment."

It quoted Bismark Rewane, managing director of Financial Derivatives Co. in Lagos, as saying: "Both the unions and the government have lost control of this process," The protests, he said, were "becoming a referendum on Goodluck."

"All the oil wealth that this country has earned over the years hasn't touched the population," said Adeyinka Shorungbe, a 36-year-old banker who was one of several thousand demonstrators who on Thursday marched through the affluent center of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos. "Everyone knows what's at stake here."

The Independent reported that Jonathan's government was warning of "anarchy" in Nigeria and reported seeing a protester carrying a sign that read: "We are ready for the civil war."