Ebonyi, one of the states in South-east zone has its raw deal of the sit-at-home order in January as almost every activities came to a halt. AMARACHI EGWUAGHA reports.
The sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB) was meant to be a means indigenes of South-east zone adopted to get the attention of the federal government especially as it concerns the arrest and continued detention of Nnamdi Kalu, the separatist leader of IPOB.
Kanu’ detention has continued to do more harms to the zone as there is never a week that passes without observation of this order. In the third week of January 2022 alone, the zone took three days to observe this order. The days were Monday 16 the mandatory day for this order; Tuesday January 17, Kanu’s appearance in Court; Wednesday 18, the day his matter was adjourned.
As it is, Mondays, the first working day has now become idle in South-east. This order has affected the zone, economically, socially and educationally.Economically, the zone is a business hub and this singular act has put every activities at a stand still.
Educationally, while there are concerns about standard, it continued to depreciate especially as students are being denied the opportunity to study. Worried by this, Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide had called on governors of the zone to team up with the federal government to bring it to an end.
Ohanaeze’s call
The group in a statement made available to journalists in Abakaliki by its secretary general, Okechukwu Isiguzoro regretted that the order has been hijacked by criminal elements.
Isiguzoro emphasized that governors of the zone need help from federal government to put an end to the situations especially as IPOB has lost grip of the order.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has paid attention to the outcry and heightening yearnings of the people of the South-east to end the sit at home observations which has hindered economic, social and academic activities in the zone.
“It’s clear that IPOB through their pronouncements has lost control of the exercise and they need help to end it.
“There is evidence that criminals have hijacked the order to perpetrate heinous crimes against humanity and people of the South-east with the random shootings in Enugu and Anambra last week, with the continuous denial of IPOB, with warnings about dealing with the criminals enforcing the order, it is enough proof that South-east needs the attention of federal government in collaboration with the governors to quell the activities of these criminals.
“The sufferings of South-east residents deserve to be treated as a priority by President Buhari just as the FG should solicit the South-east governors’ guidance on how to unravel the issue especially in some states. There are some governors who had managed the situation and few others are helpless. Abia and Ebonyi have been peaceful and had thwarted the adherence to the order.
“We are asking proponents of sit-at-home that the enslavement of Igbos are over; in fact, we are sympathetic to the pains of the leader of IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. We have decided to take advantage of the fact that God controls the affairs of men in power and influence; he would be released at the appropriate time, but there are undergoing pains of the people of the South-east and this must end up.
“The federal government in collaboration with the South-east governors should end up the sit at home order as this is the avenues criminals hide to perpetrate violent crimes, burning of public and private property and killings of innocent people.”
Effects on businesses
Ebonyi is one of the states that solely depends on government for survival. It has chains of business activities going on, but can not thrive without government presence.
Speaking to Blueprint, a dealer in provision store, Mr Emmanuel Okeh said, “My dear, this issue is no longer funny. We supported it because we saw it as a way to get to the federal government for the injustice done on Ndigbo.
“To tell you the truth, the order is affecting me. Do you know that each day I stay at home without opening my shop, I lose thousands of naira. It is true that I don’t make much gains because of taxes and other expenses, but I need that daily turn over. Since this order started, I am managing to survive.”
Another trader, Mrs Margaret Nshii, who deals in food stuff said, “This order is dealing with me. If I don’t come out, I won’t see money to feed my family; I am a widow, my husband died 10 years ago and it is this business that is sustaining me and my family. A day I don’t come out, it’s a lot of losses. You can see I have perishable goods here, anyone I did not finish selling today, I can sell the next day, but with this order, I have baskets of tomatoes, vegetables that got damaged. I wanted to come out but couldn’t for fear of the unknown especially as we heard what happened in Enugu the other time. I have lost not less than 50 thousand naira within the ladt two days I did not come to market.
“I am begging President Muhammadu Buhari to release Kanu so that life would come back to what it used to be in South-east.”
Speaking with some stakeholders in Abakaliki on the effect, the state commissioner for commerce and industry and businesses development, Dr Stephen Odo, noted that the order has impacted negatively on the region.
“For business to grow, we really need peace not just peace but peaceful environment that has the ability to stir confidence in the people. Businesses entails people moving from one point to another point and if at any point, there are sense of insecurity, nobody would want to move.
“We can get that when we look at what happened during covid period because there were movement restrictions, losses in business that ran into billions of naira.
“And here in South-east, we are suffering a self-inflicted problem because in self inflicted problems, nobody achieves result by punching itself. For me, South-east is just inflicting itself. We are a region that is known by trade, by commerce and it involves day to day business transaction and activities, so anything that hinders business activities is actually destroying the economy of the South-east and this is our pride.
“We are not like the west that are developed interms of international businesses, connection and multinational operations. The average Igbo man survives by trading and the low class survives on daily basis by going to their farms and so on and so forth.
“So, if we now decide to say there should be no movement, what it means to me is that the man who depends on a daily work would not be able to feed his family; definitely what it would mean is that the family would go hungry. When you look at it from the other angle, when a shop is closed the earning for the whole day is also closed. And when all the shops in South-east are closed, we cannot quantify the number of losses interms of naira across the entire region. Onitsha market is locked, Enugu market, Aba market Ariaria market is locked, Ebonyi international market is locked everywhere, you can’t quantify the kind of economic loss, that is one aspect.
“Another aspect is that there is no region that survives by self efforts alone; you would need people from other region to come and invest in your area. What it means is that we are already creating disenchantment and fear in the minds of investors. This is because you are not sure of security.
More concerns
On his on part, president Ebonyi Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dr Ezeh Emmanuel Ezeh said, “South-east has become a melting pot of convulsive agitations. As expected, when two elephants fight, the grasses bear the brunt. As entrepreneurs, one thing we find difficult to deal with is uncertainties coming from the environment.
“Uncertainties in the operating environment is bad for business and bad for the economy. So in essence, the unfolding agitations and government’s handling of it has exacerbated things for the worse. The South-east economy is dying a slow, gradual and painful death. My take is that the entire South-east has been lost to non-state actors.”
