Strike: Nigeria Risks Losing N50bn Daily, Economy Experts Warn

Experts in key sectors of the economy have cautioned that the nation risks losing N50 billion daily should Organised Labour embark on strike on Tuesday.

Expressing fears over the likely impact of the strike, President, Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria, ASBON, Dr. Femi Egbesola, said the action would make investors lose confidence in the economy and shut funding opportunities to Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs.

He added that based on previous assumptions from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the strike action may lead to an estimated daily loss of N50 billion to the economy.

Egbesola stated: “Whenever there is a strike in Nigeria, businesses are shut down, government offices are closed and work is brought to a total halt. The whole country is brought to a standstill, businesses lose money and workers stay at home.

“The all-round effect of such strikes hurts the growth of the national economy. Business owners find it practically impossible to meet their financial obligations such as loan repayments and prompt delivery of goods and services to clients. Hence, more bad loans and customer dissatisfaction are recorded. Investors lose confidence in the economy and shut funding opportunities to SMEs.

“In the final analysis, our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, nosedives, inflation rate jumps further, forex becomes more scarce, pushing up exchange rates, cost of living increases, more jobs are lost, vices and crimes shoot up, poverty goes up and the masses lose further confidence in government and governance.

“In some cases, lives will be lost due to violence and accidents caused by protests and more importantly, due to the closure of public hospitals and her medical personnel.

“Based on former assumptions of the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on previous strike actions, an estimated loss of N50 billion may be recorded daily.

“These estimates do not capture secondary level costs, such as employment opportunities lost and others.”