The Anambra State House of Assembly has endorsed the state government’s directive ordering traders at the Onitsha Main Market to stop observing the Monday sit-at-home imposed by non-state actors.
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Lawmakers said the decision was necessary, noting that the state loses an estimated ₦19.6 billion every Monday as a result of the shutdown.
At a plenary session held on Tuesday in Awka Anambra, the legislators also resolved to support the governor’s decision to shut the market for one week and urged residents to immediately abandon the sit-at-home practice.
The Assembly recalled that Governor Chukwuma Soludo ordered the closure of the Onitsha Main Market on Monday, January 26, following traders’ failure to comply with the directive to resume business on Mondays.
The motion calling on residents to discontinue the sit-at-home was moved by the Minority Leader, Mr Johnbosco Akaegbobi, who represents Nnewi South 1 Constituency.
Akaegbobi said the sit-at-home directive had disrupted economic and social activities across the state for years, noting that Anambra alone loses about N19.6 billion every Monday.
He explained that the Monday sit-at-home was initiated in 2021 by members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to protest the detention of their leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
He added that the practice had evolved into a habitual weekly exercise enforced by fear across the South Eastern region, costing the region approximately N88.08 billion every Monday.
Akaegbobi further noted that the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector bore the heaviest burden, accounting for roughly 60 per cent of total financial losses.
He said micro businesses lose an estimated N4.6 trillion annually due to recurring closures, while transporters lose between N10 billion and N13 billion daily.
The lawmakers said the enforced inactivity has led to a 20 per cent decline in annual effective workdays and a 35 per cent decline in business productivity in the public and labor sectors.
Mr. Chuma Okoye, the Deputy Speaker, seconded the motion, noting that the action was apt.
He said the decision was for the common good of the people and should not be seen as high-handedness.
Okoye expressed concern that many religious leaders, residents, schools, market leaders, civil servants, and public servants have come to perceive Monday as an extension of the weekend, intentionally crippling the economic viability of the day as the first working day of every week.
Mr Golden Ilo, representing Ihiala 2, said traders should see the Anambra state government’s action as beneficial for various enterprises and should back the governor by complying without further delay.
After deliberations on the motion and support from the majority of lawmakers, it was resolved that the sit-at-home directive should stop forthwith.
Sometochukwu Udeze, Speaker of the House, urged market leaders, religious leaders, schools, civil and public servants, transporters, and SMEs to commence full-scale activities across the state immediately.
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