Soludo: we’ve ended sit-at-home in Southeast for good, says Soludo
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo said yesterday that Monday sit-at-home in the Southeast had been ended for good. According to him, the economic loss suffered as a result of the
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo said yesterday that Monday sit-at-home in the Southeast had been ended for good.
According to him, the economic loss suffered as a result of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) declaration was humongous.
Speaking at the State House after a visit to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Soludo said beyond the immediate disruption of business and academic activities, it damaged investor-confidence, forcing diversion of businesses and investments from the zone.
“Every Monday lost is about 20 per cent of the work week,” Soludo said, noting that schools were routinely shut down and economic activity grounded across many communities.
He explained that with 52 Mondays in a year, the sit-at-home translated into sustained loss of income, reduced productivity and missed opportunities for growth, with long-term implications for the future of the region.
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The costs, he noted, were not limited to the present, but would also be felt in the years ahead through weakened competitiveness and shrinking investment inflows.
Soludo, however, said the tide was turning, as he disclosed that more than 45,000 shops reopened on Monday at the Onitsha Main Market, following efforts by authorities to halt the sit-at-home.
He said traders returned in large numbers, with business activity peaking and the atmosphere marked by jubilation.
“You can imagine the largest market in West Africa getting shut one day a week. Just quantify that,” he said.
The governor said he personally visited the market on Monday last week and witnessed what he described as the joy of tens of thousands of people who chanted and celebrated the return of commercial life.
He added that on the most recent Monday, more than 100,000 people were at the market, with movement so dense that “you couldn’t find space to even put your feet.”
Soludo also told reporters that his administration had dismantled no fewer than 62 criminal camps across Anambra State since he assumed office, as part of a sustained push to stamp out insecurity.
He said the state had established a vigilante outfit known as Agunechemba, alongside anti-cult, anti-touting and other security structures, which he said were working collaboratively and effectively.
“Since I assumed office, about 62 criminal camps have been dismantled, and we’re not resting for one second,” he said.
Soludo said Anambra prides itself as one of the safest states in the country, adding that the improved security environment was evident during the last Christmas season, when heavy traffic and mass movement were recorded across the state.
He dismissed suggestions that security concerns informed his visit to President Tinubu, saying the meeting covered other matters, while security remained a routine responsibility of the state government.
“I haven’t come to discuss security. Security… we’re dealing with it, that’s our routine function,” he said.
On what became of those behind the criminal camps, Soludo declined to provide details, but insisted the camps had been “decimated” and no longer existed anywhere in the state.
He spoke of plans by his administration to regenerate and restore the Onitsha Main Market to its pride of place, noting that years of disorder had degraded its infrastructure, including the conversion of parking lots into clusters of shops.
