There has been loads of estimates as to how much Nigeria is loosing to the strikes everyday. Some have said N75b, some N87, and some over N100b. But just how much are we loosing.
The common form to determine how much is being lost in an economy is to use the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country. It basically is the value of everything that is produced in Nigeria less imports.
Current data doesn’t tell us what that figure is for 2011 but the last annual report for N2010 puts our GDP at N29,498,163,430,000 (29.4tr). Dividing that figure by 365 gives you about N80,734,694,328.77 (N80b) everyday!!!
But 2010 seem a little too far considering that the government estimated a growth rate of 7% by end of 2011. To avoid speculating we can use the last GDP figure for quarter ending September 2011. That quarter put GDP at N10,205,085,180,000 (N10.2tr). Dividing that figure by 90days gives you about N113,389,835,333 (N113.3b) every day!!! What if this strike was held by this time last year how much would we be loosing? Well according to the bureau of statistic were we got all our figures the GDP for first quarter of 2011 was N7,402,481,250,000 (N7.4tr). Dividing that by 90 days gives you N82,249,791,666 (N82.2b).
Whichever you choose Nigeria may be loosing an estimated amount of at least N80b per day. For the Government, they probably loose a percentage of that as that money includes not only Government Income but that o the Private Sector too. Can we guess how much the Government is actually loosing?? Naaahhh Id leave that for another day. I am having a headache already.
See link to some GDP Data GDP Data