Strike causes N733b loss to economy

Guardian

17 January 2012

Strike causes N733b loss to economy .[About $3.8 bn]

THE week-long strike was called off. The streets were being swept of the debris left behind by the protesters as at yesterday. Pockets of disillusionment were being expressed over the stoppage of the protests. But the inventory of losses showed that the country lost N733.5 billion at the end of the crisis.

The losses from figures garnered by The Guardian from major economic sectors, showed that the banks topped the losers’ chart, with about N400 billion, followed by the Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies, where operators, especially the telephone companies, lost about N159.5 billion.

The maritime industry recorded about N96 billion loss, as operators in the aviation sector put their aggregate loss at about N18 billion.

Losses from the manufacturing companies were estimated at about N10 billion, due mainly to assessed low profile of operations at the plants.

The aggregate loss figure was rated as conservative, given the non-inclusion of the informal sector, whose operators were less active during the strike.