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• Says 45,000 shops buzz back to life on Mondays
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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governor of Anambra State Chukwuma Soludo has revealed that his administration has razed more than 62 criminal hideouts across the state, boosting security in what he calls one of Nigeria’s safest regions.
Speaking after a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor highlighted the South East’s massive losses from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)-enforced Monday sit-at-home orders over Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s detention.
He noted that businesses and investments that had fled the zone have begun to return, with over 45,000 shops at Onitsha Main Market reopening last Monday amid booming trade and trader celebrations.
To combat crime, Soludo said the state launched the Agunechemba vigilante outfit alongside anti-cult and anti-touting units, all operating seamlessly. “When I assumed office, so far since I came into office, about 62 criminal camps have been dismantled in Anambra, and we’re not resting for one second. In Anambra, we pride ourselves on being the safest — if not, modestly, one of the safest — states in the country, and security is key.
“Last Christmas, everybody all over the state—it was as if we had a mass return, with heavy traffic all over the place. And that’s a celebration of the return of security of lives and property in the region.”
Soludo dismissed suggestions that security drove his presidential visit. “No, not at all. We had quite several other things to discuss. I haven’t come to discuss security. Security, we’re dealing with — that’s our routine function.”
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On the fate of those in the dismantled camps, he said: “I don’t want to tell you the details of what happened to them. The important thing is that the 62 camps have been decimated, and they’re not there anymore — anywhere. We get on there and deal with them decisively. We can’t allow criminality to dominate our place.
“And even more recently, these criminals have held the South East region hostage for more than five years. Every Monday, there was a criminal, very debilitating, destructive Monday sit-at-home. Schools — aside from the capital cities in the five Southeast states—had no sit-at-home on Monday, but the rest of the places were mostly under lock and key. This can’t continue, and we decided that this year must be the end. Enough is enough, and I’m happy that so far we’ve taken back our region; we’ve taken back our state.”
Quantifying the sit-at-home’s toll, Soludo called it “humongous” across social, economic and political fronts. “Well, there are several numbers people cite depending on where they come from and how they calculate their nebulous figures. The little I can tell you is that each day, you can imagine if you look at the economic size of the South East, and you have 365 days in a year.
“How many Mondays? How many weeks do you have — 52? And 52 days out of the 365, excluding weekends and Sundays, which are obviously work-free. Then you calculate the rest of it. Quite frankly, if you’re thinking in terms of those informal services that work Monday through Saturday, every Monday lost is about 20 per cent of the work week.
“Twenty percent—schools shut down on Mondays. That’s 20 per cent lost. You can calculate that: if in a year you lose 20 per cent, if you cascade that through the economic front, you’re not just losing income at 20 per cent, but you’re also losing opportunities for growth, because some other people are going to divert their businesses and investments elsewhere, because you are not open for business.
“And so you can compound the costs in various ways—socially, economically, politically—not just now, but also in the future. Therefore, for us, it’s something that just can’t go on if we value the future of our people. And I think now that they are open—the Main Market, more than 45,000 shops.
“You can imagine the largest market in West Africa getting shut one day a week. Just quantify that. And now that they are open, I went there on Monday last week. If you saw the joy of the people—tens of thousands of people there chanting and rejoicing that a new dawn is here this year. And this last Monday, they trooped out again in tens of thousands. In fact, when I went there, there were over 100,000 people; you couldn’t find space to even put your feet. We’re going to regenerate the Main Market; we’re going to regenerate it because it’s been run down so badly.
“All the parking lots there—they took them over and built shops all over the places. We’re going to breathe life back into it again and restore its pride of place as the premier market in West Africa.”
