LCCI warns of unintended consequences as election row persists

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said the electoral fallouts from the presidential elections could present unintended consequences for Africa’s biggest economy.

The chamber raised the concern during its quarterly state of the economy press conference on Tuesday.

“LCCI recognises that there are disenchantments with the conduct and outcomes of the elections; we however plead with both losers and winners alike to consider the ‘unintended’ consequences of their words and actions,” Michael Olawale-Cole, president of LCCI said.

He said there was nothing wrong in challenging the results but that it should be done in a very civil way within the limits of the law. “No getting it done by arranging daily violent demonstrations in cities and cursing commotions.”

According to him, the possible consequences of all these actions if it continues will set the nation ablaze; affect the livelihoods of people and the unity of Nigeria. “All these will discourage foreign investments into the country.”

Read also: 2023 Election Tribunal: ‘Judges must understand that it is Judiciary that is on trial’

Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the presidential election on February 25, 2023, and will be sworn in as president on May 29.

But some opposition parties’ candidates in the election, including Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) have gone to court to challenge the victory of APC.

“There were noted challenges, most importantly, around the workability of the Bimodal Voter Authentication System, insecurity and authenticity of results, amongst others,” LCCI said.

The chamber said there was a need to ensure that in the future all elections are peaceful, free, fair, orderly and credible. “There is also a need to deploy reliable technology to boost security, communication and more surveillance infrastructure at critical locations across the country.”

Olawale-Cole of LCCI also spoke on the removal of the fuel subsidy in June, saying it will spur investments in domestic refining and petrochemicals and create a significant value chain for the various stakeholders.

“Though the planned removal of fuel subsidies may cause further northward movement of inflation in the short term, it is arguably one of the best economic decisions to reduce our unsustainable debts and widespread corruption in that sector.

“We expect the government to roll out appropriate cushioning or palliative policies and measures before the subsidy removal in the second half of the year.”