Sit-at-home cost Southeast ₦4trn, Deputy Speaker laments

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Benjamin Kalu, has lamented the economic cost of the sit-at-home order introduced by the proscribed group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), in the Southeast.

According to Kalu, the enforcement of the order, which usually crippled both economic and social activities in the region every Monday, is responsible for the loss of about ₦4 trillion.

The sit-at-home measure is a form of civil disobedience introduced by the IPOB two years ago to press for the release of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is being held in the Department of State (DSS) custody.

Armed men and other groups claiming allegiance to IPOB usually throng the streets across the five states of the region every Monday to ensure that residents comply with the order.

Kalu laments the economic cost

Speaking at the ‘All Markets Conference 2023’ with the theme: ‘Catalysing Partnership with Traders through Innovation, Technology, Analytics & Sustainability’ in Lagos on Friday, July 14, 2023, Kalu complained that the sit-at-home order has stifled the economic growth of the region.

The Deputy Speaker, who delivered a keynote address at the event, also said the situation has discouraged potential investors from coming to the Southeast, thereby calling for collective efforts by all Igbo people to put an end to the menace.

Kalu also advocated for the revival of the Igbo apprenticeship system which, according to him, has produced successful businessmen and women, stressing that it should not be allowed to fall into extinction. 

He said, “The existential threat to Igbo entrepreneurship and businesses now is the insecurity and sit-at-home problem in the South-east. The mutation of this problem is largely unfathomable. It is becoming a cankerworm that is eating deep into our collective fortune as a people.

“We have to rise up to nip the problem in the bud. The first wave of the migration of Igbo businesses post-civil war was in the late 1980s and the 1990s, when, due to incessant kidnappings, thievery and a rise in occultism, Igbo businesses domiciled in Igboland moved en masse to other parts of Nigeria and the West & Central African region to thrive.

“We are currently witnessing the second wave of such migration of Igbos businesses, this time around, due to the insecurity and the sit-at-home problem in our beloved region.”