Nigeria Lost N5trn To EndSARS Protest – NECA

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) said the nation lost over N5 trillion during the 2020 End-SARS protest.

This is even as the group appealed to Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to have a rethink over its planned nationwide protest which is to take place on Wednesday 2nd August, 2023  over foot dragging of palliative by federal government.

The president of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, stated that the country is yet to fully recover from 2020 EndSARS Protest, urging labour to desist from its planned protest.

According to him, “Organised businesses in the formal and informal sectors lost over N5 trillion due to the crass vandalisation by unscrupulous elements who hijacked the purposeful End-SARS protest in 2020. Many organisations are yet to recover from the loss incurred and many informal sector operators fatally handicapped economically.”

Moreover, the NECA DG said: “Any strike, threat of mass action or civil disobedience that could potentially disrupt the economic activities of businesses, especially those in the formal and informal sectors (which could compromise sustainability and job creation), based on economic policies of the Government (which are non-employment related) will be counter-productive.

“While Organised Labour is at liberty to engage with the government on behalf of its members on issues of welfare as they relate to impacts of any economic policy, sometimes deadlock may hold sway. When that happens, the consequential action by Organised Labour should not, in any way, hinder anyone from going about their businesses peacefully or cause anyone to be intimidated or harassed.”

He charged NLC to abide and respect the established Institutions created to adjudicate and arbitrate labour matters in the country.

“These institutions include but are not limited to the National Industrial Court (NIC); the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP), among others.

Neglecting these Institutions could potentially compromise our labour and industrial relations system and framework, with grave consequences for the economy,” he pointed out.