By Ebuka Onyekwelu, Ph.D
To understand the action of Professor Charles Soludo today at the Main Market, Onitsha, the regular Monday sit-at-home must be properly contextualized. Throughout the Southeast, Anambra State is practically the most affected by the weekly Monday sit-at-home. All the major markets in Onitsha and environs are closed on Mondays. If this is the choice of the traders, it is a bad choice. If conditioned by fear, there should be an end to it. It is now the fifth year, and this abnormality has nearly gained a life of its own as a new normal in Anambra State. In contrast, in Ebonyi State, there is absolutely no sit-at-home on Mondays. All markets in Ebonyi are open for business on Mondays, and people travel from Akwa Ibom and Cross River States to buy from the Margaret Umahi International Market, Abakaliki. Many of these same buyers normally travelled to Onitsha to buy goods as wholesalers or retailers. In consequence, Onitsha has lost, not just customers, but the chain of benefits that accrue to Anambra State and its people from the customers who visit to buy from far distances across Nigeria.
In Enugu, the Monday sit-at-home has no significant economic or social impact because it is only partially observed in villages in parts of Enugu North, yet, academic activities are on in those places on Mondays. The biggest market in Enugu, Ogete Main Market, is open for business every Monday. In Imo state, markets are open for business on Mondays. Major markets in Owerri, including the biggest market, Eke Onuwa, are fully open for business on Mondays. In Abia State, the Monday sit-at-home has been put behind. But in Anambra State, it is still a serious issue, and this is a state whose comparative advantage is business and commerce. Anambra must reclaim itself.
The declaration today by the governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, has been met with mixed reactions. Many have called it harsh, and some have described it as a waste of time because the government can not force the people to trade in their shops. But the best way to x-ray the action of the governor is to place the consequences of the Monday sit-at-home side by side with the governor’s efforts to end it in Anambra State. In a place like Ebonyi State, the Monday sit-at-home is strange because it has never happened. Yet, there are cases of insecurity relating to the activities of gunmen in that state. There are also cases of activities of militant herdsmen in the state. There are more than a handful of recent attacks by gunmen and herdsmen in Ebonyi. To wrap it all up, the now jailed IPOB leader, Simeon Ekpa, convicted of terrorism in Finland, is from Ebonyi state. Notwithstanding, the state has never been locked down on Monday for sit-at-home. Whatever Ebonyi has done to rescue itself from this baseless Monday sit-at-home should, at all costs, be replicated in Anambra State in the state’s own best interests.
As of today, Onitsha has almost informally emptied into Asaba. On Mondays, Asaba is full of life, burbling with commercial and business activities in full gear. From the Asaba side of the Onitsha head bridge on the straight road to the Asaba airport, one would observe the rapidity with which malls and markets are springing up across the city. Throughout the Delta State capital, Asaba, multiple businesses can be observed to have moved fully or in part from Onitsha to Asaba. This has forced many traders to now use Asaba as their depot to avoid the uncertainties of crossing over to Onitsha.
So basically, while Anambra is losing its customers from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, etc, to Ebonyi, on one hand, it is also losing its commercial relevance to Asaba on the other Southeast corridor. This is no longer a Southeast problem. It is an Anambra problem. No governor should sit and allow the mainstay of their state’s economic relevance to be destroyed by a reckless sit-at-home instituted by non-state actors.
The governor and the people of Anambra State must rise and put an end to the sit-at-home. Even if the governor has to personally supervise Anambra markets every Monday to ensure compliance, it is within the job of a leader to save a people from themselves. However, if the traders are ready to comply, the governor of Anambra State should reconsider and end the one week sanction placed on the market.
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