A scene from the hunger protest in Nigeria
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) says the ongoing hunger protest in Nigeria could lead to an estimated daily loss of N400 billion to the Nigerian economy if not properly regulated.
Speaking on behalf of the CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf explained that over 90 per cent of employed Nigerians are in the informal sector and that any activity that could obstruct their business for over 24 hours may evolve into a major social unrest.
“Employees in this space (informal sector) depend 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,” Dr Yusuf said in a report on punch.com.
Dr Yusuf suggested that to save businesses, the economy and to prevent the protest from becoming chaotic, the duration of the protest should be limited to a day.
He said, “experience has shown that the chances of protests degenerating into chaos and anarchy increase with the duration of the protests.”
The fears of Dr Yusuf align with Rotimi Oyelere, a developmental economist who believes that a national protest over a long period of time would have detrimental effects on daily wage earners.
“There will be a micro impact in immediate income loss for households, and businesses, then a macro impact that will affect general output and on a national aspect.
“It could get out of control and lead to indirect loss if there is a need to restore any destroyed property,” Oyelere said in a report on punch.com.
EAN/SA
