Traders in Onitsha main Market, Anambra have called for adequate security measures in the state to enable them to adhere strictly to Gov. Charles Soludo’s directive on the Monday Sit-At-Home.
The traders were reacting to the order by the state government for the immediate shutdown of the Onitsha Main Market and other adjoining markets for one week, in the first instance, following the traders’ noncompliance to the government’s directive to open markets on Mondays.
The sit-at-home order which has been in place for about four years, imposed by non-state actors in the South-East, and disrupted economic and social activities across the region, has been publicly condemned by the Soludo administration.
The state government had urged the traders and residents to go about their lawful activities without fear and shun the illegal order, which it described as an economic sabotage on the region, which is yet to be obeyed hence the government’s directive.
Some of the traders who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Awka described the government’s action as overbearing and undemocratic.
They also saw the action as being insensitive to the concern of the traders and the people, considering that maximum security was yet to be achieved in the state.
They questioned if the government could bring back to life those that would lose their lives in the process of a comeback.
Mr Ugochukwu Okigbo, a trader described the Soludo-led administration’s action as insensitive to the traders and the people, saying that maximum security was yet to be achieved in the state.
Okigbo alleged that traders, in the past, have tried to comply with the government directives to end the sit-at-home menace but were killed in the process and the government did not return the dead back to life.
“Traders are afraid of their lives as nobody is certain when and how the non-actors would strike.
“Government should put professional security personnel to reassure the traders of their safety before enforcing the order,” he said.
Okigbo said that one-week total closure of a major market like Onitsha main market amounted to the government insensitivity to the fears of the traders.
Mr Daniel Nwachukwu , another trader said that the week-long closure would inflict far more reaching economic damage than the once-a-week Monday sit-at-home observed by traders for their safety.
Mrs Chikaodi Eze said that Monday sit-at-home disrupts economic activity for a single day, while a full-week shutdown collapses supply chains, wipes out weekly turnover, and accelerates spoilage of perishable goods.
Eze said that the government declaration would also trigger layoffs, and deepened liquidity crises for small traders who survive on daily sales.
Mr Ekene Nwankwo said that the government misfired and noted that markets are not operated like light switches that can be turned off and on without cost.
Nwankwo said that the ripple effects of a week-long closure extend far beyond the traders to the transporters, artisans, consumers, and even the state’s own revenue base.
“Any policy response that inflicts greater economic harm than the problem it seeks to solve is not economic management, it is economic self-sabotage,” he said.
Mr Mmezi Ofo observed that the traders feel more troubled than the government because their businesses are capital intensive which means they desire to be in business daily to avoid waste.
“Most traders deal on goods that have an expiration date, use credits to run their trade and need to pay back so as to keep their businesses afloat.
“We are checking our safety and that of our businesses, so, the government should not cry more than the traders but work harder to resolve the root cause of the sit-at-home.
“We need a peaceful environment to trade on; lives have been lost over this issue of sit-at-home, so the solution is diplomacy and not using government tools wrongly,” he said.
Chief Okwudili Ogbonna, an Anambra chieftain, said that there was no law that empowers the government to compel traders to open their shops and described the government action as abuse of power.
Ogbonna said that in a free-enterprise society, the government cannot arbitrarily command traders when to open their businesses adding that traders are free to decide when and how to conduct their enterprises.
“This freedom flows from constitutionally guaranteed rights to property, occupation, and movement.
“The limited power government may exercise is regulatory, for instance, prescribing general market hours such as opening by 8:00 a.m. and closing by 6:00 p.m. purely for order, safety, and administration,” he said.
Mr Jude Atupuliazi recalled that the absence of traders from many markets in Anambra on Mondays followed the violent enforcement by non-state actors who claim to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He noted that the sit-at-home directive had led to the killing of defaulters and burning and destruction of their shops, vehicles and other property.
“This forced many to elect to sit at home, out of fear. Over time, some people became used to resting on Mondays and decided on their own volition to be staying indoors.
“However, some civil servants use this phenomenon as an excuse to dodge work while expecting full pay. Soludo asked such people to start coming to work on Mondays or forfeit part of their salaries as fine.
“It would have been a different ball game if the order not to open had come from the market leadership. But in this case, there’s no such order.
“It is purely a case of individual traders choosing to rest on Mondays. What the government should keep doing therefore is to continue to appeal to traders to shun sitting at home on Mondays,” Atupuliazi said.
He urged the government to refrain from issuing orders, adding that with time, normalcy would be restored.
“I feel for the traders who want to be selling on Mondays, but who will now suffer for what some others caused. Government should therefore reconsider this ban and allow things to pan out on their own.
“The government can take any action it seems fit against its workers who don’t want to come to work on Mondays,” he said.
However, Mazi Christian Beluchukwu, a resident, said that the government’s firm stance was for the economic development of the state and described the declaration as long overdue.
“The move is courageous, but the government needed to step up security to avoid fear and uncertainty,” said Beluchukwu, citing security concerns and previous incidents of violence linked to defying sit-at-home orders.
NAN reports that Gov. Soludo, had on Jan. 26 visited one of the biggest markets in West Africa, the Onitsha Main Market, and announced its shut down for a week.
He made the declaration over the traders’ failure to comply with the government’s order that the market be opened on Mondays and threatened to extend to a month, a year or demolish the market if his orders were not complied with.
