THE South-East Nigeria has lost N355.231 billion for shutting down its economy 4 times in January 2024, Economy Post has found.
The region shut down its economy on January 1, 8, 15 and 22 due to the sit-at-home order enforced every Monday by “unknown gunmen,” who are criminals claiming to fight for the independence of the Igbo people of the region.
Though unknown gunmen do not openly enforce the sit-at-home order, they often attack markets that refuse to observe it.
READ ALSO: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/manufacturers-dump-nigeria-move-operations-abroad/2023/11/21/
The gunmen claim they are pushing for the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr Nnamdi Kanu, who is being held by the Nigerian government on the charges of treason.
Mr Kanu’s lawyer, Barr Ifeanyi Ejiofor, however, said in 2023 that the IPOB leader was “traumatised by activities of unknown gunmen.”
Based on research conducted by Economy Post‘s Managing Editor, Mr Odinaka Anudu, which was funded and first published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) in 2023, the region loses N88.80 billion each Monday it shuts down its major markets. In one year, which is made up of 52 weeks, South-East Nigeria loses N4.618 trillion for sitting down at home every Monday. When broken down, it loses N3.7 trillion (approximated as N4 billion on the graph) every hour and N60.0617 million (equivalent to N0.617 billion or zero on the table above) every second.
Methodology
A total of 110 micro businesses from five states of the South-East region were used for the study. Their earnings each Monday before the sit-at-home exercise began were multiplied by the total number of micro businesses in the South-East region, which is 5 million.
READ ALSO: https://www.economypost.ng/featured/knocks-on-wike-as-kidnappers-run-rings-around-abuja/2023/11/22/
Situation now normal
Sitting at home every Monday is now normal in the South-East region of Nigeria. One of our reporters who visited Onitsha on January 8, 2024, found that it was not an issue for many residents of the region.
“For us, this is normal. We prepare for holiday from Sunday and re-open our shops on Tuesday,” said a trader of textile materials at Main Market, Onitsha, Mr Nnaemana Ihejiaka, said.
“Do not bother yourself about that because we are not complaining,” he added.
A shoemaker at Bakassi in the industrial city of Aba, whose shop always shuts down every Monday, Mr Bethram Ahiadi, said the situation had become a form of protest for the continued detention of Kanu “without any reason to do so.”
Simon Ekpa factor
The detention of Mr Kanu has led to the rise of the Finland-based Simon Ekpa, who is notorious for posting inflammatory tweets. His ets may be considered “treasonable felony” if arrested, according to a lawyer, Mr Ude Nwamkpa.
He has called Nigerian authorities “terrorists” and declared violenc against them as seen in one of his tweets.
The 38-year-old Ekpa is a Finnish politician, lawyer and former Nigerian athlete. A member of the National Coalition Party of Finland, he contested the 2022 Finnish county elections.
Way forward
Several business and social leaders have suggested ways of ending the Monday sit-at-home exercises in the South-East region.
President, Leather Product Manufacturers Association (LEPMAS) covering Ariaria and shoemakers in Aba, Mazi Okechukwu Williams, said there was a need for the Nigerian government to dialogue with agitators in the region.
“The situation is affecting us in terms of revenue and productivity. The solution is for the Federal Government to dialogue with agitators. Also, there is a need to release Nnamdi Kanu,” he suggested.
Secretary of the Association of Leather and Allied Industrialists of Nigeria, Mr Ken Anyanwu said, “The IPOB has relaxed its sit-at home. Simon Ekpa is engineering his own followers, but who is suffering from all these? It is the businessmen and women that are suffering from all these.”
He called for the release of Mr Kanu and some form of dialogue to end the sit-at-home exercises.
he President of Amalgamated Markets and Traders Association, Imo State, Chief Ezeanoche Emmanuel, said the solution was simply to plead with the perpetrators to call off the sit–at -home order.
“This is because the order has brought economic activities in the entire South-East to their knees. So we can only plead with them to end it,” he said.
An Onitsha, Anambra State-based political analyst, Ms Adaku Obiorah, urged the Bola Tinubu administration to depart from the former government of Mr Muhammadu Buhari by embracing dialogue and political solution to the issue.
“Buhari took a hard stance about it for reasons no one knows. But Tinubu can show leadership by seeking a political solution to it,” she said.
