Poor macroeconomic conditions such as high misery index, sluggish growth and fast spread of the delta variant is responsible for the protests that have hit tow African giants – Nigeria and South Africa, Bismarck Rewane, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC) has said.
South Africa is currently facing a third wave of the virus, while Nigeria is at the early stages of its third wave.
“Coincidentally, the two dominant economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have experienced similar events in the last one year. From protests to underlying macroeconomic conditions, the fate of the SSA region in the short term lies in the use of a defibrillator on Nigeria and South Africa. While South Africa could return to a positive growth of 2.5 per cent in 2021 from -7.0 per cent in 2020, Nigeria will keep underperforming the region at 1.8 per cent according to World Bank projections” said Rewane in its recent FDC Afriscope publication.
In October 2020, there was the nationwide #EndSars protest in Nigeria. The protest was birthed from public frustration of police brutality across the country. Before long, the organic peaceful protest, became a historic eye witness account of the ‘October Lekki Toll Massacre’ followed by looting and wanton destruction of malls, shops and business enterprises. The economic loss was estimated at over N1 trillion. Fast forward to 2021, South Africa, is experiencing double the trouble after the jail sentence of its ex-president and apartheid freedom fighter, Jacob Zuma.
