By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has warned that the planned nationwide protest scheduled to commence on August 1, could lead to an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, with severe consequences for Nigeria and people.
The Director/CEO of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, said: “The protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, if not properly managed. The consequences of such a huge loss for the country and the citizens would be very severe.”
The proposed 10-day protests – #EndBadGoverrnance- being organised by various groups across the country to draw the Federal Government’s attention to Nigeria’s economic woes, characterised by widespread insecurity, hyper-inflation, high production costs, unemployment and hunger, have sparked concerns among various interest groups.
In particular, they are worried about the impact of the protests on an already fragile economy in the areas of trade and commerce, manufacturing, entertainment, transportation, logistics, financial services, hospitality industry, agriculture, aviation, ICT, and construction sectors.
Accordingly, Dr. Yusuf noted that: “There is a high risk of shutdowns and disruptions in major sectors of the economy. This is in addition to risks to lives and properties of innocent citizens and corporate bodies.
“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.”
“This is in addition to risks to lives and properties of innocent citizens and corporate bodies. Safety of government assets are also at risk.”
The protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, if not properly managed. The consequences of such a huge loss for the country and the citizens would be very severe.
Against this backdrop, he urged the protest organisers 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.”
He added that the protests should not offer a platform for criminals, who have criminal intentions and whose agenda is to inflict pain on innocent citizens and corporate organisations and destruction of public assets, saying that “we cannot fix a problem by promoting such negative tendencies.”
He therefore advised that the duration of the protests should be short, possibly one day, as “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.”
