Stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians, home and abroad have stated that sooner than imagined, the South-East economy may crumble.
This frequency and the dangerous curve it’s currently taking in the political zone, which is now losing about N8 billion weekly, experts fear, may see its economy crumble, a report by Daily Independent has revealed.
According to the report, SouthEast residents have lamented over the rate at which they are forcefully complying with the on going sit-at-home order by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) over the detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the group.
Kanu was apprehended on Sunday June 27th, 2021.
The report also noted that the high point was when the entire world, through the aid of social media watched with disgust as the unknown gunmen chased students out of the examination hall and torched part of the school building and some motorbikes on the school premises.
Comprehensive secondary school at Njaba community in Imo State was cited as an example. The students of the school were writing their English Language paper in the external examination moderated by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) when the gunmen, now known as the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) struck.
IPOB in statement denied been involved in the act, noting that its members did not perpetrate the dastardly act that took place on Monday that the group was allegedly enforcing a sit-at-home strike.
But the fact that the action took place on the Monday in the southeast political zone makes the allegation stick.
The report also revealed that the weekly sit-at-home strike also affected every sector of the economy in the zone, noting it has continued to bear the brunt.
The chambers of commerce, business owners and traders have put the cost of every Monday sit-at-home at about N8 billion, as they continue to compute their losses.
The development has robbed the zone over N50 billion so far; adding that the loss in the private sector amounted to over 60 percent, the First Vice President of Nnewi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NCCIMA), Chief Moses Ezukwo, disclosed.
Unverified statistics said the transport sector loses at least N3 billion any day there is a lockdown in the region. An average of one million people move around, in and out of South East each day, at N3, 000 per traveller. No doubt, it is assumed that the action has dug a big hole in the economy of the five states of the Southeast region, the report revealed.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has ordered residents of Nigeria’s South East region—largely Igbo-dominated areas to stay at home every Monday until their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is released from jail.
The spokesperson of IPOB, Emma Powerful announced the take-off of the sit-at-home order in August 2021.
There was initial confusion as Kanu’s brother said the first stay-at-home order should be postponed, to allow the students to take exams. compliance with the stay-at-home order on August 9 appears to have been widespread and mostly peaceful. Commercial activity in normally busy cities such as Enugu and Abakaliki ceased.
