…82 Mondays, N5.4trn wasted – Expert
‘…Several innocent citizens have lost their lives”
‘…It threatens region’s rating of academic excellence’
…Losses we incur humongous – Biz owners
…It amounts to pressing the self-destruct button – Chief Osuji
On the back of Nnamdi Kanu’s extradition from Kenya, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ordered a sit-at-home protest on Mondays until Nnamdi Kanu is released; BENJAMIN SAMSON in this report examines the impact of the action on the South-east in particular and the country in general.
The protest which began on August 9, 2021 has since become a major pain in the South-east. It has divided residents in the region. Monday is now part of the weekend. Banks, shops, transport companies, churches, schools and government offices are under lock and key.
82 wasted Mondays
An economist, Dr. Dozie Okeke, told this reporter that the negative impact of sit-at-home on the economy of the South-east cannot be quantified.
He said: “Since on July 30, 2021, when the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) announced that it would be enforcing a lockdown every Monday in the region until its leader, Kanu, was released, the South-east has sat at home for over 82 Mondays since the exercise began on August 9, 2021.
“Undoubtedly, the sit-at-home has cost the residents of the South-east a lot in terms of lives and property. Since it started, several innocent citizens have lost their lives in the most gruesome manner, depriving families of their loved ones who are sometimes breadwinners, and truncating the destinies of the dependents left behind while leaving scars that may never heal.
“One of the most tragic episodes was the gruesome murder of Dr. Chike Akunyili (the late Dora Akunyili’s husband), whose face was blown off by bullets in broad daylight, and digitally recorded by onlookers in an episode that would traumatise any decent citizen.
Since that death, many others have lost their lives in the hands of ‘unknown gunmen’ seeking to enforce this sit-at-home directive.”
Impact on region’s economy
“This protest has heavily impacted the South-east economy and, indeed, the broader Nigerian economy. An investigation funded by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) revealed that the South East Nigeria’s micro businesses wasted 82 Mondays between August 9, 2021, and December 19, 2022, losing N5.375 trillion ($12.215 billion) in the process.
“Transportation is an important sector in the region as the region hosts the Onitsha main market and the Aba market; some of the major markets in the country. This necessitates a huge inflow and outflow of people in the region. However, a report by the DevEast Foundation and SBM Intelligence states that transporters lose a huge sum of N10 billion (£18.5m) for each sit-at-home day. This is a double tragedy for a country whose national economy is already on its knees, as reduced income means less purchasing power for transporters in the South-east, with the attendant reduction in tax remission to the state governments.
“Consumers or dealers who order products are also affected as their goods are not delivered. This makes them lose confidence in dealing with products whose major suppliers are from the South-east.”
Education
In his view, a development economist with Nigerian Economist Group, a private sector driven Economic Think Tank, Olabisi Ayoola, lamented its impact on the education sector.
He said: “For several years, the region has prided itself in its educational excellence, with all five states located among the 10 best performing states in the West African Examinations Council and National Examination Council exams, and at least two states in the top five.
“The current sit-at-home disrupts the academic calendar across all levels of education as the various curricula will not be completed during the allocated time.
“There have been instances where hoodlums enforcing the order chased away students writing examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). They also set motorcycles belonging to teachers and students ablaze, warning them not to disobey the sit-at-home order.
“Schools are always under lock and key on Mondays. There is nothing the school can do about it because no parent wants to risk the lives of their children. It is even difficult for us as teachers to get to the schools
“Also, the disruption of crucial exams has been reported. These can threaten the region’s rating of academic excellence. This has already started to show up in the numbers. Based on the NBS Multiple Cluster Indicator Survey for 2022, Anambra and Enugu states are beginning to show the kind of school enrolment numbers we had gotten used to seeing just in Northern Nigeria.”
Defiance
However, some residents who spoke with Blueprint Weekend via the telephone blamed the federal government, especially the Muhammadu Buhari administration, for the worrisome situation in the South-east.
A resident of Enugu, Chika Oguchukwu, said: “The government of former President Muhammadu Buhari is responsible for this sit-at-home. We will continue to sit at home every Monday until the government releases our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“We are fighting for our freedom. We will continue to shut down our region every Monday until the Federal government releases our leader.
“The sit-at-home exercise has become a new normal in the South-east. Like Christmas and New Year, workers enjoy the ‘holiday’ and make fun of it. The most common felicitation in the region every Monday is, ‘Happy sit-at-home.’ Nobody cares much about the loss. What is important to the people is freedom from oppressors.”
Businesses groan
Owners of small businesses who spoke with our reporter lamented the impact of the sit-at- on their businesses. They are, however, afraid to speak out because they could be attacked, or even killed by non-state actors who are terrorising the region.
Chidibire Asadu, the owner of an Nsukka-based clothing outfit, said, “We are not happy with the sit-at-home exercise, but you can be a victim if you complain a lot. If any of your staff members discuss your disdain for the exercise outside your office, unknown criminals could invade your business and even set it on fire.”
A small-scale manufacturer in Enugu state, who did not want his name printed, noted that the situation was hurting his projections.
“The losses we incur are humongous. No business practically goes on at my factory because a group of unpatriotic persons want it and the government keeps quiet.
“This is a loss of man hour when you pay your staff for 30-day services and they work four or five days less, who is losing?”
Also, a Holy Ghost, Enugu-based shoe seller, Uju Ajuonuma, said there was no end in sight for the exercise.
“The way things are today no one is sure when this will stop. When business owners who should be productive, creative and making money are at home watching television, there is a problem,” she further said.
Mrs. Grace Onyewuchi, who sells foodstuff at the Relief Market Enugu, said it was difficult for businesses to pick up because normally, goods are delivered on Mondays.
She said, “As sellers of perishables, if you don’t finish selling your goods before the sit-at-home days you will incur a lot of losses because they will become bad before the next market day.”
Business forum’s cries
In its opinion, a group, Igbo Business Forum, has urged the IPOB not to use the Biafran struggle to destroy the economy of the South-east.
Its spokesman, Chief Ndubuisi Ehibundu, told this reporter that every Monday, the zone loses billions of naira because of the sit-at-home order.
He said: “How can some people decide to ruin the economy of their people because of a struggle? And come to think of it, they are not more Biafran than we are. How can you tell people to sit at home when you have nothing to manage the effect of hunger in the land? Those of us in the business sector lose an average of N25 billion in Onitsha alone. I believe we also lose the same sum in Aba, Nnewi and other places, and this is not good for our economy.
“My colleagues in other zones are celebrating what we lost to them due to the sit-at-home order. What is happening in the South-east, if it continues, would spell doom to the zone? Those that usually came to the South-east to transact business have deserted us and moved to Lagos instead of the normal Onitsha, Aba and Nnewi. We are losing a lot as a result of this sit-at-home.”
Ohanaeze’s take
Likewise, the national vice-president-general of Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Demian Ogene-Okeke, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release Kanu.
Ogene-Okeke said the release of Kanu, will dust down the current hostilities going on across the five states of the region, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi.
He appealed to President Tinubu to copy a pardoned spirit from former President Shehu Shagari who granted Chief Chukwumemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu an unconditional pardon after 12 years of escaping from the offensive 30-month civil war.
He alleged that the federal government is enjoying the insecurity in Igbo land. And that the government is also supporting the insult Asari Dukubo is giving to the Igbo.
Ogene-Okeke said, “The federal government is enjoying the security challenges the indigenes and non-indigenes residing in the South-east zone are suffering from. And the government seems also to be enjoying the insults Asari Dukubo is meting out to the Igbo.
“They should release the IPOB leader as ordered by the court, then every Nigerian will know whether the unrest situation in the region will continue or not.”
A professor of History and International Relations at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the convener ‘Igbo Summit,’ an annual gathering of Igbo intellectuals, Damian Osuji, called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency release the Kanu from the DSS detention.
Speaking with this reporter, Osu said the release of Kanu from custody would serve as the first step towards finding lasting peace within the currently troubled South-east.
According to him, Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers fear the worst might happen if he remains in DSS custody; a development which he fears might cause more harm and deepen the security threats within the South-east.
He said: “President Bola Tinubu needs to release Kanu urgently for justice, equity and fairness to the people of the South-east. It will to a large extent restore peace and address the deteriorating security challenges within the region.
“The continued detention of Kanu is illegal because there have been injunctions from the Appeal Court, a high court in Umuahia and the Federal High Court ordering the release of Kanu.
“It will not be in the interest of peace that Mazi Kanu dies in DSS remand; neither will it be seen as fair for the IPOB leader to leave the detention being disfigured.”
Alleged marginalisation
He described the Biafra agitation as “an accumulated anger of marginalisation of the Igbo.”
“Rather than address this issue, the federal government is making matters worse; hence, the increased agitations across the country today. IPOB is a child of that circumstance. However, IPOB has started missing it by imposing a sit-at-home order on the people of the South-east and forcibly making them comply. This amounts to pressing the self-destruct button as it is the people and economy of the South-east that will suffer. I am against any action that will hurt the South-east. Sitting at home won’t solve the problem; if we sit at home in the South-east forever, how will it affect Aso Rock?’’
He appealed to IPOB to beware of the plights of the common southerners who it professes to defend.
