After a week-long strike called by labour and backed by civil society, Nigerians and indeed the economy are the worse for it, as losses arising from the shutting down of the business are estimated at several billions of naira.
Labour on Monday announced the suspension of the nationwide strike it called to protest against the removal of subsidy on petrol by the Federal Government, citing the need to ensure “national survival”.
In Lagos, the Save Nigeria Group, led by Tunde Bakare, a politician and founder of Latter Rain Assembly Church, also announced the suspension of its “Occupy Nigeria” protest at the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, Ojota, which attracted thousands of protesters while the strike lasted.
However, the Ojota venue of the protest was early yesterday morning taken over by armed soldiers deployed by government, apparently to ward off the protesters and clear the Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway for vehicular traffic. The strike which commenced on Monday January 9 and lasted till yesterday, had crippled economic and commercial activities across the country, as virtually all sectors of the economy including seaports, airports, banking, education, healthcare services and public offices were shut down.
The suspension of the strike by labour and its civil society allies, followed a week of negotiations between government and labour, mediated by the National Assembly which culminated in a nationwide broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan, bringing the price of petrol from N140 to N97 per litre.
Abdulwaheed Omar, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) who addressed a press conference in Abuja, placed on a demand on the federal government to ensure proper investigation and auditing of the accounts and activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as a precondition for suspension of the strikes and mass protests which President Jonathan has already obliged.
Decrying the losses to the strike, Demola Amusan, CEO, Admiral Tours, said his company alone lost over N50 million of both inbound and outbound tour packages that could not hold because of the industrial action that paralysed business activities at the airports, destination management offices and related business associates across the country.
“At present, most of our outbound clients are already asking for refund while our contacts and associates abroad have already collected their advance fees for hotel bookings, airport transfers, city breaks among other clients’ interest. We are the ones bearing the whole cost because it wasn’t the fault of the foreigners. But you must refund to maintain credibility and possibly woo back the clients,” he said.
Amusan added that the loss could double the estimated N3 billion if the cost of grounding of local airlines for the period the strike lasted was considered. “I lost huge discount on Arik and Dana Airlines that would have flown my clients to Calabar, Uyo, Port Harcourt and Abuja. One of the managers just told me that the loss is threatening their business beyond flying empty aircraft”.
Rafael Munga, GM of a three-star hotel managed by a South African hotel chain, said his Victoria Island, Lagos-based hotel, experienced almost zero occupancy rate as most foreigners were advised to stay away from Nigeria until the strike was over, besides an earlier warning by their home countries against visiting Nigeria due to growing insecurity.
He noted that the Nigerian clients hardly visit because some, according to him, thought hotels were lonely then and could also be targets of attack by protesters on discovering economic activities.
“The owners of the hotel are pressing hard on me to recoup the loss estimated by our accounts to about N30 million because we make between N4-5 million daily. We may resort to cutting salaries this month”, he observed.
Going by that, the over 30 international hotel brands in Lagos, the many in Abuja, Calabar, Port Harcourt and across the country, will all together have lost billions of naira to the over one week strike,” Munga said.
Ahmed Ojuolape, managing director, Empire Travel and Tourism Ltd., said it was only natural for tourists to stay away from trouble spots.
According to him, tourism is all about movement of people from one point to another and tourists only go to places that are safe, peaceful and secure.
“If as a tourist, you have been patronising a particular destination and all of a sudden there is a problem there, you will divert to other peaceful areas with comparative attractions.
The money that visitors spend enhances the country’s economy, especially the host communities.
“For now, it will be difficult to quantify the actual monetary loss; to do this all tourism operators have to give feedback on their losses. “But certainly, the loss will be in millions of dollars,” Ojuolape said.
He said if 30 flights came into the country in a day and there was one tourist per flight, who spent an average of 1,000 dollars a day,that would translate to about $30,000 daily.
Speaking also, Ikechi Uko, coordinator of The Seven Wonders Ltd., said it was unfortunate that the nationwide strike came when the hospitality sector was heading for the peak.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the various tourism exposures made by the government, through the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), had begun to yield positive results.
Ayodele Adebayo, a hotelier, who did not want his hotel named, said that bookings had dropped by more than 70 per cent.
However, Stanley Martinez, general manager of a four-star hotel in Ikoyi, said the strike drew most of the foreign travellers who could not travel back, to the hotel. “We had an appreciable number of foreigners relaxing here and waiting for the normal flights to resume. Again, this is the beginning of the year and business is gradually picking up. So the loss was not so much on my hotel. We survived it”.
The strike also took a toll on the downstream sector of the oil and gas sector, as it lost N368 billion revenue. Several vessels laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, incurred demurrage as they could not discharge at the ports.
In the same vein, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) sub-sector lost N840 million. An average of 20 trucks of LPG is loaded a day, which translates to 400 tons.
Also not left out, was the manufacturing sub sector, as Babatunde Odunayo, managing director of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, put his company’s loss to the strike at over N800 million.
Odunayo said: “We may have lost about N800 million, but for those who do business with us, like bakeries and many other food companies, they would have lost over N1.5 billion during the strike”.
John Aluya, managing director of Crystal Glass Ltd, who also decried heavy losses to the strike, noted, however, that the suspension of the action was a win-win situation for both the government and labour.
“But if we look at the economic loss the country has incurred while it lasted, it is almost close to the amount the government says it will be generating from the removal of subsidy”.
Aluya who is also chairman of the Apapa branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said it was actually not possible in the immediate to put a figure to the amount lost by manufacturers in the Apapa area of Lagos. “It is still too early to put a figure to the loss we incurred during the strike because we were just coming back from the Christmas holiday when the strike started. My accountant will be in a better position to say that,” Aluya said.
Similarly, retail shop owners have lamented losses from the nationwide strike which grounded their activities and daily earnings.
Emmanuel Eze, one of such traders in the Alagbado area of Lagos, said “I travelled for the Christmas and the New Year celebrations with a budget of what to spend within the yuletide because there were so many things I needed to do within the period.
“I actually travelled, hoping that when I came back to Lagos I would begin my business and gather more money to pay my children’s school fees, house rent and other things, but unfortunately less than a week after, when I had not made any much progress in business, the nationwide strike started and since the beginning of the strike only very few people came patronising me.”
Eze, who runs a supermarket, also decried the low patronage and high fares that trailed the strike, all of which impacted negatively on his business. “On a good day, I sell products as much as N20, 000 with a profit of about N5, 000 a day but since the beginning of the strike I have not been able to sell up to N5, 000 because I only open my shop in the evenings.
Ayo Olamide , a barbing salon operator, also lamented: “During the strike, it was not really easy for me because I had to stay at home until about 5pm before I could open for business because that is when people gradually come out of their houses”.
Ola Gbenga, a cyber café operator also lamented the effect of the labour strike, saying he could only open to customers from 6pm, as a result of which only very few people patronised him during the period.
“Before the strike, I used to make up to N5, 000 daily depending on the number of customers, but on the day that I use the private generating set all through the day I spend up to about N1,500 to power the system and sometimes spend more to service the generator. Sometimes the internet service provider also affects my business when they are not available.”
Omar at the press conference, said after the review of the impact of the hike in the price of petrol on Nigeria workers, labour may demand for upward review of national minimum wage from N18,000.
He further noted that the organised labour will ensure the full implementation of the N18,000 by the three tiers of government adding that the Justice Alfa Belgore Committee set up by President Jonathan will assist in meeting the yearnings of the organized labour.
“We note the major successes Nigerians scored in these past days in which they rose courageously as a people to take their destiny in their hands. First, the Federal Government that chorused continuously that its decision to increase petrol (PMS) price to N141 is irreversible and irreducible, was forced to announce a price reduction to N97. We however state categorically that this new price was a unilateral one by the Government.
“Secondly, Government has been made to adopt the policy to drastically reduce the cost of governance. A third major success Nigerians recorded is to get the Federal Government to decisively move against the massive and crippling corruption in the oil sector.
“While until now Government has seemed helpless to tackle corruption, the mass action of the people has compelled it to address accountability issues in the Sector. In this wise, President Goodluck Jonathan has told the nation that the forensic audit report on the NNPC will be studied and proven acts of corruption will be sanctioned.
“He (Jonathan) also promised that accountability issues and current lapses in the oil sector will be speedily addressed including the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). A related success of the mass action by Nigerians is the vow of Government to bring to justice all those who have contributed in one way or another to the economic adversity of the country.
“The least we owe our compatriots who have become martyrs in the patriotic struggle to reassert our sovereignty and ensure good governance is to remain steadfast and unbowed. Labour reiterates its demand that those who perpetuated violence against unarmed protests should be brought to justice.
“With the experiences of the past eight days, we are sure that no government or institution will take Nigerians for granted again.
“In view of the foregoing, Labour and its allies formally announce the suspension of strikes, mass rallies and protests across the country. We demand the release of all those detained in the course of the strikes, rallies and street protests,” Omar said.