Capital, whether equity or a loan, has a cost. The decision to invest either through a share sale or a loan is driven by the hope of a return. When that hope is constrained by disorder capital takes flight.
Let us look at the Arithmetics of disorder in real terms.
In Lagos, Delta, and most Nigerian states, businesses operate six days a week. That is about 312 working days a year, or 85% of the calendar year, during which capital is deployed, inventory turns over, and loans are serviced.
In Anambra, forced Monday shutdowns reduce operations to five days a week—about 260 working days, or just 71% of the year.
That is a loss of 52 working days annually—an immediate 14% reduction in productive capacity—while interest continues to accrue every single day of the year.
Put simply, you pay for seven days but can earn only on five.
And the challenge goes deeper.
Unlike most productive economies, Nigerian businesses already face severe structural constraints. Because of unreliable power and security concerns, most factories and SMEs operate only a single daytime shift. Night shifts—the backbone of productivity in manufacturing economies like China, Vietnam, Germany, and India—are largely impossible here. Equipment sits idle at night, inventory turns is slow, and capital is under-utilised.
Yet loans and the cost of capital still run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So Anambra businesses are trying to repay 24-hour loans with part-time economic capacity, and then we further compress their working year to 260 days.
This is not sustainable. No enterprise can scale under that arithmetic. This self-imposed constraint is dragging the East, and Anambra in particular, down the competitiveness ladder.
That is why I fully support Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s decision to restore law and order and reopen businesses on Mondays. Order is not a punishment; it is an economic enabler. It is the foundation on which productivity, investment, and growth rest.
Next Monday, businesses in Anambra should open, in their enlightened self-interest and in response to the Governor’s call. At the same time, the state must build confidence by visibly guaranteeing safety and demonstrating its monopoly of lawful force.
The time to unlock Anambra’s economy is now. Every lost day compounds the cost.
About Author
