… Set to Resume Full Business Activities
Traders at the Onitsha Main Market and other major markets across Anambra State have pledged to end the long-running Monday sit-at-home and resume full business activities from Monday, in line with the state governor’s directive, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
The assurance was given on Thursday during an interactive meeting between market leaders and the governor, following the continued closure of the Onitsha Main Market and the prolonged sit-at-home, which have severely disrupted economic and commercial life in the South-East.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the Chairman of Onitsha Main Market, Mr Chijioke Okpalugo, said traders were ready to return to business on Mondays in support of the governor’s vision of a united and economically vibrant Anambra State. However, he appealed for stronger security measures to protect traders, buyers, and their goods.
According to him, market leaders requested a visible and sustained security presence within markets, the full reopening of motor parks to ease the movement of people and goods, and firm action against individuals who benefit from or enforce the sit-at-home order.
Okpalugo said, “Our Governor is a listening and progressive-minded governor. We strongly believe that, with this appeal, he will consider us and reopen the market for our good because he loves his people.
“We have resolved to be opening for full activities on Monday. We have lost so much fortunes since the creation of the Monday sit-at-home in the south-east region. We are fully in support of the governor’s action against the Monday sit-at-home order.”
In his response, Governor Soludo declared that all markets and shops in Anambra State must open on every working day, including Mondays, insisting that the era of sit-at-home-induced closures was over.
He assured traders that the state government would strengthen security around markets and commercial centres, pledging to protect them from harassment and intimidation.
The Governor also presented traders with a “renovate or rebuild” option for the Onitsha Main Market, offering either a complete redevelopment into a modern trading hub or a comprehensive overhaul of existing facilities.
Soludo said, “Igboland and Anambra will move forward. Business activities must continue irrespective of the option chosen.”
He further described the enforcement of the sit-at-home as “a criminal enterprise,” distancing it from the agitation for the release of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“It is not linked to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. He does not support the sit-at-home. If it doesn’t happen in Umuahia, his hometown, why Onitsha and Nnewi?” the Governor asked.
The Governor also alleged that many of those enforcing the sit-at-home were not indigenes of Anambra State and warned that the government would take extreme measures if defiance continued.
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