Non-Security Presence, Bank Closures Keep Onitsha Market Shut On Mondays, Traders Explain

One of the traders in Onitsha Main Market, Gibson Okafor, has explained the reasons behind traders’ inability to open their shops on Mondays.

The Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, had on Monday ordered that Onitsha Main Market be shut down for one week due to traders’ perceived compliance with the Monday sit-at-home order by non-state actors.

The governor also warned that if traders failed to open at the end of the one-week shutdown, the market would be closed for another week, and subsequently for longer periods.

READ ALSO: Soludo Shuts Down Onitsha Main Market For One Week Over Sit-At-Home

Reacting to the governor’s directive on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Wednesday, Okafor said that while the governor has provided security around the market, there is still no security presence on the routes to the market on Mondays.

“The governor promised security, but only what he will do, because some people are coming from Nkpor, Asaba, and other areas. They need transporters to operate and security along the routes so traders can come to the market.

“If they don’t see security men and transporters, they can’t come to the market. Everything has to be in order so that traders would have the means to reach the market. The governor promised us that — that is what I heard from them — but we haven’t seen it,” Okafor said.

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He stressed the need to increase security presence while also calling on the governor to ensure that banks operate on Mondays so business can flow smoothly in the market.

Okafor lamented that the continued closure of commercial banks in Onitsha on Mondays makes it difficult for customers to access cash to purchase goods.

“Governor Soludo has put security everywhere, but for the Monday sit-at-home, they have to increase it and tell the banks to open. When the banks are closed, our customers won’t come to the market because they don’t have money to buy goods — that’s the problem,” he stated. stated.

The Commissioner of Information for Anambra State, Law Mefoh, was also a guest on The Morning Brief on Tuesday, where he disclosed that the state loses ₦8 billion every Monday due to the sit-at-home order.

The commissioner noted that the practice is seriously affecting the socio-economic life of the state.

“Statistics have it that Anambra is losing an average of ₦8 billion every Monday that the market is shut,” he said.

Mefoh insisted that the government has a responsibility to ensure the economy continues to run which was why the governor took the action he took.

“Those who are opposing it are simply being mischievous. That is why the governor rightly called it economic sabotage,” he said.