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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo has stated that the continued lockup of markets in Onitsha and some other parts of the state by traders on Mondays is totally unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue under his administration.
Speaking in a live broadcast at the Awka Light House yesterday, Soludo explained the rationale behind the one-week closure of the Onitsha Main Market and disclosed that the action was taken to protect the state’s economic future and reaffirm that Anambra is open for business six days a week.
The governor said the continued observance of sit-at-home on Mondays, despite improved security in the state, amounted to a deliberate effort to undermine the South-East economy.
He noted that markets opened on Mondays during the Yuletide period while the residents enjoyed a peaceful Christmas, but reverted to shutting down afterwards.
According to him, the development has negatively affected traders, artisans, farmers and schoolchildren, who now operate on reduced work and school days.
Soludo said his administration had engaged widely with stakeholders since assuming office, including offering amnesty, empowerment programmes and pro-poor policies to ease the burden on residents.
He added that he had also consulted key actors in the past to discourage the sit-at-home, stressing that the practice harms the very people it claims to protect. He also disclosed that a meeting has been fixed with market leaders in Anambra today in Awka where all issues going forward on the matter will be harmonised and resolved.
The governor alleged that those enforcing the sit-at-home were largely non-residents who perpetrated violence and economic disruption in the state.
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He described the practice as “no-work-day” rather than sit-at-home, noting that Monday remains the most important business day of the week and that its loss constitutes economic sabotage against Onitsha, Nnewi and Anambra at large.
He dismissed claims that insecurity prevented market operations, pointing out that a significant security presence had been deployed around the Onitsha Main Market.
Soludo also clarified that the issue was not a human rights violation, as the market is owned by the state government even as he threatened to revoke the trader’s shop allocations and reassign them to other traders ready to abide by the government directive of trading on Mondays.
He added that the government could, in overriding public interest, take steps permitted by law if traders refuse to operate on Mondays.
“The rest of the world cannot adjust to our own calendar. We must rather adjust our own to fit in with the rest of the world. I’ve finished meeting with bank officials in Anambra while schools also will reopen immediately on Mondays. We shall apply same disciplinary measures on defaulting schools and can revoke the license of private school owners that fail to resume school on Mondays.
“The struggle is to save the Anambra economy and the Igbo land at large, save our children and their future…”
We are determined in this struggle and there is no going back. Anambra is on the rise. Enough is enough,” the governor stated.
He appealed to residents to support the government in resisting criminal elements and their sponsors.
