Proposed protests portend grave dangers for economy – CPPE

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) on Sunday said the proposed nationwide protests portend grave dangers for an economy which is already in a very fragile state.

In a statement signed by Muda Yusuf, director of CPPE, the think tank said the protests could inflict an estimated daily loss of N400 billion, if not properly managed.

Mr Yusuf explained that 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, hospitality industry, agriculture, aviation, ICT, and construction sectors,” he said.

This, he said, is in addition to risks to the lives and properties of innocent citizens and corporate bodies.

He noted that the safety of government assets is also at risk.

He, however, 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.

“The protest organisers should not offer a platform for elements in the country who have criminal intentions and whose agenda is to inflict pains on innocent citizens and corporate organisations and destruction of public assets. We cannot fix a problem by promoting such negative tendencies,” he added.

Additionally, the CPPE advised that the duration of the protests should be short, possibly one day.

Mr Yusuf further explained that the chances of protests degenerating into chaos and anarchy increase 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.”

According to him, over 90 per cent of employed Nigerians are in the informal sector.

He said 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, he said, underlines the country’s vulnerability to prolonged protests.

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The think tank urged 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.”

Mr Yusuf noted that there is also an urgent need to prioritise fiscal frugality and transparency in the public sector at 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,” he said.