Sit-at-Home Took 20% Of Work Week, Hurt Growth — Soludo

Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, has said the prolonged Monday sit-at-home in the South-East effectively erased 20 per cent of the region’s productive week, dealing what he described as “humongous” economic damage over more than five years.

Soludo, who spoke with state house correspondents on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said the losses extended beyond immediate business closures to long-term damage to investor confidence and regional competitiveness.

“Every Monday lost is about 20 per cent of the work week,” he said.

The sit-at-home, declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra over the incarceration of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, led to the routine shutdown of markets, schools and commercial activities across many communities in the South-East.

Soludo noted that with 52 Mondays in a year, the region forfeited a significant share of its annual productivity, translating into sustained income losses, reduced output and missed growth opportunities.

According to him, the disruption also pushed some businesses to divert investments outside the zone, weakening the region’s economic prospects.

The governor, however, said the tide was turning.

He disclosed that more than 45,000 shops reopened at the Onitsha Main Market on Monday following renewed efforts to halt the sit-at-home order.

“You can imagine the largest market in West Africa getting shut one day a week. Just quantify that,” he said.

Soludo said he personally visited the market last week and witnessed traders celebrating the return of commercial activity.

He added that on the most recent Monday, more than 100,000 people thronged the market, with movement so dense that “you couldn’t find space to even put your feet.”

Linking the revival to improved security, Soludo announced that no fewer than 62 criminal camps had been dismantled in Anambra since he assumed office.

He said the state established a vigilante outfit known as Agunechemba, alongside anti-cult and anti-touting structures, which he described as working collaboratively.

“When I assumed office… about 62 criminal camps have been dismantled in Anambra, and we’re not resting for one second,” he said.

The governor dismissed suggestions that insecurity prompted his visit to the President.

“I haven’t come to discuss security. Security, we’re dealing with — that’s our routine function,” he said.

Soludo added that the Onitsha Main Market would be regenerated and restored, noting that years of disorder had degraded its infrastructure.