…Banks, Manufacturing, Aviation, Transport Sectors To Suffer Huge Losses
The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE), Muda Yusuf, has warned that the August protest is most likely to cost the economy about N4tn.
THE WHISTLER reports that the protests being planned mostly by youths who are decrying poverty, unemployment and hardship in the country will commence from August 1 to 10.
Yusuf in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER noted that the nationwide protest portends grave dangers for an economy which is already in a very fragile state.
According to him “The proposed nationwide protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400bn, if not properly managed. The consequences of such a huge loss for the country and the citizens would be very severe”.
This means that the ten-day protest on a daily loss of N400bn will cost the economy N4trn.
The CPPE boss noted that there is a high risk of shutdowns and disruptions in major sectors of the economy.
The sectors expected to record financial loss include, trade and commerce, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation, logistics, financial services, hospitality industry, agriculture, aviation, ICT, and construction sectors.
“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 major social unrest.
“This underlines the country’s vulnerability to prolonged protests,” he noted.
While noting that freedom to protest was a fundamental right of every citizen, the expert pleaded that the duration should not be long.
In his words, “We plead with the organizers 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.
“The protest organizers should not offer a platform for elements in the country who have criminal intents and whose agenda is to inflict pains on innocent citizens and corporate organizations and destruction of public assets. We cannot fix a problem by promoting such negative tendencies.
“Additionally, the CPPE would like to advise that the duration of the protests should be short, possibly one day. Experience has shown that the chances of protests degenerating into chaos and anarchy increases with the duration of the protests”.
He further urged the Nigeria Police Force to acknowledge the rights of the citizens to protest and offered to protect the genuine protesters.
Nigeria May Lose N4trn To Hunger Protest—CPPE is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
