Protests: Nigeria risks losing N400bn daily, CPPE warns

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE) has warned that Nigeria stands to lose over N400 billion daily to the planned nationwide protests if not properly handled.

The Centre cautioned that the protests portend grave dangers for the Nigerian economy, which is already in a very fragile state.

CPPE, in a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the consequences of such a huge loss for the country and the citizens would be very severe.

According to the statement, there is a high risk of shutdowns and disruptions in major sectors of the economy, including trade and commerce, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation, logistics, financial services, hospitality industry, agriculture, aviation, ICT, and construction sectors.

The statement said this is in addition to risks to the lives and properties of innocent citizens and corporate bodies, adding that the safety of government assets is also at risk.

It commended the Inspector General of 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 said.

“It is in the overall interest of all for this to happen. The peacefulness of a protest does not detract from the potency of its messaging.

“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 organisations and destruction of public assets. We cannot fix a problem by promoting such negative tendencies.”

Additionally, the CPPE advised 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 increase with the duration of the protests,” it noted.

“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.

“Over 90 percent 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.

“Meanwhile, we urge the administration to expeditiously implement its economic stabilisation plan to ease production costs and ultimately reduce inflationary pressures. Trade costs are still prohibitive and need to be drastically reduced across the board in a manner that would not undermine domestic production.

“High cargo clearing cost is a major factor driving inflation, which needs to be fixed urgently. Revenue drive should be managed in a manner that does not impose additional pressures on citizens and corporate bodies.

“There is also an urgent need to prioritise fiscal frugality and transparency in the public sector in all tiers and across all levels of government, coupled with appropriate signalling and messaging that reflect current economic conditions. These are essential to earn the confidence of the generality of the people.”