The proposed nationwide protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, Muda Yusuf, director/CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise has said.
He said in a statement released on July 28 that if the protest is not properly managed, the likely economic impact will be grave dangers for an economy which is already in a very fragile state.
“The protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, if not properly managed,” Yusuf said.
He said the consequences of such a huge loss for the country and the citizens would be very severe. “There is a high risk of shutdowns and disruptions in major sectors of the economy. These include trade and commerce, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation, logistics, financial services, the hospitality industry, agriculture, aviation, ICT, and construction sectors.
“This is in addition to risks to the lives and properties of innocent citizens and corporate bodies. The safety of government assets is also at risk.”
He commended the Inspector General of the police for acknowledging the rights of the citizens to protest and offering to protect the genuine protesters.
“We plead with the organisers of the protests to cooperate with the police to make the planned protests peaceful and orderly. It is in the overall interest of all for this to happen. Peacefulness of a protest does not detract from the potency of its messaging,” Yusuf said.
He said the protest organisers should not offer a platform for elements in the country who have criminal intents and whose agenda is to inflict pain on innocent citizens and corporate organizations and destruction of public assets.
The CPPE advised that the duration of the protests should be short, possibly one day because experience has shown that the chances of protests degenerating into chaos and anarchy increases with the duration of the protests.
“Prolonged protests create opportunities for hoodlums, miscreants, and other criminal elements in the society to build momentum to unleash mayhem and destruction on the country,” he said.
He stated that over 90 per cent of employed Nigerians are in the informal sector. “Employees in this space are dependent on daily income and any disruption to their economic activities beyond 24 hours could snowball into a major social unrest. This underlines the country’s vulnerability to prolonged protests.”
The CPPE boss urged the administration to expeditiously implement its economic stabilisation plan to ease production costs and ultimately reduce inflationary pressures.
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