Written by Vincent Ujumadu
Tension in the commercial metropolis of Onitsha is rising as a result of numerous vendors’ protests over Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s Monday order to close the Onitsha market.
While the vendors watched from a distance, fierce-looking security personnel in armored personnel carriers were positioned at the market’s entrance.
After the traders refused to open the market on Monday, Governor Soludo fulfilled his threat to close it for a week.
Additionally, he had threatened to close the market for a month if, by Monday of next week, they were still unable to open for business. He also threatened to demolish the market if the traders lost interest in doing business there.
“I don’t mind closing this market for the remainder of the year, and we’ll use bulldozers to level it if it becomes too crowded.” The governor had cautioned, “Leave Anambra and go somewhere else if you are not prepared to trade on Monday.”
Unexpectedly, a lot of people turned to the streets, only to discover that a lot of security guards were watching over the whole market.
However, despite the teenagers’ repeated support of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), there were no clashes.
Even though they were ready to open for business on Mondays, several of the demonstrators expressed concern about the separatist agitators’ ongoing danger to their lives.
Additionally, they bemoaned the fact that even banks are closed on Mondays and questioned how they could transport cash to their homes when the markets were open.
According to one of the traders, the majority of traders have become accustomed to taking Mondays off, thus the problem is no longer about Nnamdi Kanu’s freedom.
These days, we work Tuesday through Saturday. On Sunday, we attend meetings, church, and other social gatherings. We have decided to take Monday off, and we hope our governor will join us,” he stated.
Dr. Emezie Madu, a public analyst, has backed Governor Soludo’s position on the matter, claiming that enforcing Monday business activity is a textbook application of Developmental State Theory, which holds that in order to preserve production, the state must act as the entrepreneur of last choice.
A self-inflicted 20% yearly recession cannot be sustained by any trade-dependent economy. The data is clear: the state’s comparative advantage is undermined by the ₦416 billion yearly loss, which is a developmental disaster. Economic continuity is a basic requirement for survival, not just a choice. Madu remarked.
