By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
In a bid to restore the economic vitality of Anambra State, the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has declared that all markets and shops across the state will remain open every working day, including Mondays. <\/p>\n
The governor gave the directive during a meeting with market leaders from across the state at the International Conference Center, ICC in Awka.<\/p>\n
The meeting which was called by the state government was aimed at addressing the recent closure of the Onitsha Main Market and the long-standing Monday sit-at-home which led to the shutdown.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that Soludo had on Tuesday held a press conference to address the issue and give reasons for the market closure for one week.<\/p>\n
According to the Governor, the market would be further shutdown and taken over by the government if the traders failed to return to Monday to Saturday market days.<\/p>\n
Addressing the traders, the Governor presented a “renovate or rebuild” ultimatum to them with two options: to level the existing structures and build a new, world-class trading hub or undergo a massive modernisation project.<\/p>\n
He however warned that regardless of the option taken, that Monday closures will no longer be tolerated. <\/p>\n
The Governor said, “For four years, we engaged with you. We discussed, pleaded, and even held prayer sessions with all the churches in April 2022, to end this. It is now time for more action,” Soludo stated.<\/p>\n
“The current enforcement of the sit-at-home order has transitioned from a political protest to a criminal enterprise that no longer serves the interests of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.<\/p>\n
“Those enforcing the order are largely non-indigenes of Anambra State.” <\/p>\n
While warning that “extreme measures” would be deployed by the government if defiance persists, Soludo reaffirmed his commitment to securing the state’s commercial hubs, promising that the security architecture across all markets would be overhauled to prevent harassment. <\/p>\n
“Igbo land and Anambra will move forward,” Soludo further declared.<\/p>\n
Responding, the market leaders in unison expressed willingness to comply with the directive but sighted logistical and security challenges as well as little or no access to network.<\/p>\n
Speaking on behalf of the traders, Chairman of Onitsha Main Market, Mr. Chijioke Okpalugo, pledged that traders would begin Monday operations in alignment with the Governor’s vision for a “One Anambra.”<\/p>\n
The traders’ leadership presented several requests to which include, a visible and proactive security presence to protect traders and customers, ensuring motor parks are fully operational to bring buyers from outside the state, decisive action against individuals who benefit from or facilitate the sit-at-home order<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent In a bid to restore the economic vitality of Anambra State, the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has declared that all markets and shops across the state will remain open every working day, including Mondays. The governor gave the directive during a meeting with market leaders from across the state at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10724,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723\/revisions\/10724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}