The planned strike and protests by the organised labour and civil rights’ groups are beginning to impact on the economy already as the naira fell against the U.S dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market on Friday.

The naira closed at N162.10 to the dollar, 1.32 per cent weaker than the N159.95 to the dollar at Thursday’s close.

“Some importers are buying up dollars because of the uncertainty on the likely impact of the planned labour union strikes and protests against the withdrawal of fuel subsidy on their business next week,” one dealer said.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) last Wednesday called for a nationwide strike starting today, which they said would shut down large parts of the country’s businesses, including the banking sector, if the government failed to restore the fuel subsidy.

Traders said the naira was under pressure last Friday as some importers bought up dollars to secure their obligations in case the planned strike disrupts business activities and the foreign exchange auctions this week.

“People expect the naira to lose value next week unless the central bank increases dollar sales to the market and clears all demands at its auction, provided the auction is held because of the planned strikes by the labour union,” another dealer said.

President Goodluck Jonathan opened 2012 with a bold statement of intent, scrapping popular fuel subsidies as the first step in a  push to reform the economy.

The unexpectedly harsh move, which at a stroke, doubled the price of fuel drew condemn-ation from unions and opposition politicians and sparked off protests in the commercial capital, Lagos and other parts of the country.

Whether or not those demonstrations snowball into a significant chall-enge to Jonathan’s authority will be crucial in determining the future of his wider reform push, most notably a shake-up of the woefully inept power sector.