Enugu residents defy Gov Mbah’s directive, observe sit-at-home
By Emma Ogbuehi
Attempts by the Enugu state government to end the weekly Monday compulsory sit-at-home order issued by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), suffered serious setback on Monday June 5, as residents of the metropolis and adjoining councils, stayed away from their offices and business premises.
All roads, schools, banks, markets and other public places in Enugu, were completely deserted. Our reporter gathered that the compliance by the sit-at-home order was mostly out of fear of reprisals by the hoodlums enforcing the directive.
The state governor, Peter Mbah had on June 1 declared “no more sit-at-home in Enugu,” effective Monday, June 5, asking individuals and corporate organisations to ensure full-scale business activities in the state. Business owners were threatened with losing their licenses and premises if they failed to show up in their locations commencing this Monday.
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Mbah stated that his government would be ready to engage in dialogue with people who have genuine grievances so as to foster lasting peace and security in Enugu State, adding that the order dwindles creativity and productivity of the people.
The governor’s ban on the sit-at-home order came last Thursday with a call on President Bola Tinubu to release IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu.
After his first security council meeting with the heads of all the security agencies at the Government House, Enugu State, Mbah told journalists that the sit-at-home declared in the South-East to press for Kanu’s release had impeded economic activities.
“Consequently, from Monday, June 6, 2023, there will be no observance of any sit-at-home in all nooks and crannies of Enugu State,” he said on Thursday.
Governor Mbah noted that his “government will enforce this with all the powers at its disposal”.
The governor urged Enugu residents to take back their sense of industry, pride of place and re-enact the glorious past. Of the state, adding that by heeding the call, the residents would have set his administration on the path of actualising its mandate.
Leading clergymen including the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Godfrey Onah; the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma; and the Enugu State Association of Presidents-General of Town Unions, supported the call by the governor.
However, by Monday morning, investigations by our correspondent, indicated that major roads in the city, were deserted by motorists and passengers. A resident, Ezeneke Ugwu, who spoke with our reporter, argued that it would be foolhardy for any resident to respond to the directive by the governor without anything on ground to protect them from reprisals by the enforcers of the sit-at-home exercise. “It is only a mad man that dares the lion empty-handed or confronts an armed man with nothing. What guarantee has the government put on ground to assure us of our safety if we come out? Has anything been done about those who had come out in the past and were killed or wounded? There is no point in taking unnecessary risk. I will stay indoors ill evening”, he volunteered.
Experts are of the opinion that the economy of the South East is steadily going down, on account of the weekly Monday sit-at-home order in the area. Data from Nnewi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), in 2022, disclosed that the economy of the region had lost over N50bn since Monday, August 8, 2021, when the sit-at-home, began to take effect. The figure must have gone up. Anambra State is estimated to lose N19 billion every Monday.
The impacts are mostly felt on factory shutdowns, non-movement of labour and capital, low productivity and high cost of living.
With the stoppages in production, many hands are out of jobs. A 2020 report by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), ranked the South-South geopolitical zone with 37.0% unemployment rate, as the highest in the country followed by the South East with 29.1%. South East must have overtaken the South-South with the lockdowns and spiraling insecurity.
Education is not spared in the season of madness. The unflattering reports of students being prevented from sitting for the West African School Certificate Examinations in the region by armed men during the sit-at-home sessions, shows the extent the disorder in the south east has assumed.