ABUJA (AFP) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is meeting union leaders Thursday for the first time since the start of a national strike that has seen workers threaten to halt oil production, a unionist said.

“We are going to meet the president at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT),” Peter Esele, president of Trade Union Congress, told AFP after oil workers announced they would shut down crude production in Africa’s largest oil producer from Sunday.