“Denying me what to eat for seven days is nothing but wickedness.”
Residents of Enugu State have lamented the negative impact of the frequent sit-at-home order by non-state actors in the South-east region of Nigeria.
They made their feelings known in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Enugu.
The residents, among whom are traders, artisans and legal practitioners, said their various means of livelihood were being drastically affected.
‘I’m managing to survive’
A trader at Ogbete Market, Jude Uwazurike, said his business was gradually decreasing by the day as a result of the frequent closure of the market.
He said: “I sell clothes (abada) at Ogbete Market and I can say without mincing words that I was doing well in my business before now.
“However, as I speak, I am just managing to survive because this issue of closing shop every Monday and sometimes they just order people to remain indoors for days is no longer a joke.”
He said that he used to travel to Aba, in Abia weekly to buy goods but lamented that he rarely traveled these days due to lack of sales.
“The truth is that after these lockdowns, people tend to be famished, tired and withdrawn for the rest of the days,” he said.
Mr Uwazurike appealed to the relevant authorities to do something by either releasing Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), or in the alternative, rejig the security apparatus in the region.
Nnena Okpo, a dealer in perishables at the Holy Ghost Market, said her business had almost collapsed due to sit-at-home.
Mrs Okpo said she was losing hope about the situation in the South-east, unless steps were urgently taken to change the situation.
“It is no longer funny, the whole thing looked like a joke when it started in 2021 but today you can count a number of businesses that are still standing strong.
“I deal with perishables. Apart from Monday’s sit-at-home order by IPOB, now someone stays in Finland and gave a directive for seven days lockdown, not minding what people go through,” she said.
She said it had been difficult to survive because of the perishable nature of the goods.
“I have to eat from the business and watch the rest perish. I see my goods, my money rotting, and there is nothing to do,” Mrs Okpo said.
Legal profession affected too
A lawyer, who did not want his name mentioned in the report, said that the lockdown in Enugu State and the entire South-east was taking a toll on the legal profession.
According to him, many people thought that it was only entrepreneurs that suffer the consequences of the sit-at-home.
“The truth is that, we in the legal field suffer it the more. Litigants also suffer as a result of postponement of cases.
“It may interest you to know that each time there is disruption of activities in the public space, it affects the courts too, even when some cases require urgent attention,” he said.
‘This is wickedness’
A bus driver, Emeka Agbo, decried the situation, describing the perennial sit-at-home orders as dangerous.
“We know that we are fighting a cause but I think some people are really going too far by impoverishing the people,” he said.
Declaring seven days sit-at-home was inviting hunger into his family, he said.
“I don’t have any other work doing than to drive from Obollo-Afor to Enugu and come back and the management pays me my little commission which I take to my wife and children.
“But denying me what to eat for seven days is nothing but wickedness,” Mr Agbo said.
Credit : Premium Times
