From Maurice Okafor,Enugu.
Residents of Enugu metropolis and by extension the rural dwellers across the 17 local government areas of the state henceforth will re incorporate Monday as the usual first working day of the week either in their businesses or offices,where they earn resources for their living.
This stems from the fact that the new state governor,Dr Peter Mbah on Monday broke the jinx of the cancerous ‘sit at-home’that has negatively imparted on the economy of the state for almost two years,during which innocent citizens were compelled to stay indoors for fears of being mahandled,robbed or their vehicles burt by miscreants,who are fake Indigeneous People of Biafra(IPOB)members.
Governor Mbah weathered the storm on Monday,June 5, by moving to the markets and offices himself and encouraging the people to get on with their businesses against fears of attack from faceless miscreants,which was the norm that scared innocent citizens away from duty.
The strategy to deploy security agencies at strategic places in the state to guarantee safety and properties of innocent citizens who wish to embark on their legitimate businesses as agreed in the maiden security council of the present administration played out.A combination of the Nigerian police,the military,Civil defense and para military groups were were on ground and offered the citizens,the protection and safety they deserved.
Checks across the 17 local government areas of the state as at the time of filing this report on Tuesday,June 6,revealed that the hoodlums were thoroughly put on check by the presence of security agencies and the citizens who cared moved about their normal businesses.
Commenting on lack of total compliance in Enugu metroplis,Professor Godsmark Ugwu said it is part of human nsture to inhibit fears in such cases but now that Governor Mbah has marched words with action,Enugu metropolis will bubble with normal activites next Monday.
Several groups and dignotores including clerics have continued to pour encomium on Governor Peter Mbah for his administration’s step in that direction.
The Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Godfrey Onah, the Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, and the Enugu State Association of Presidents-General of Town Unions, have thrown their weights behind the efforts of the Enugu State government to end sit-at-home in the state starting from Monday, June 5, saying it is long overdue.
They equally expressed total support for Mbah’s call for the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention, saying it is the right path to national healing and stability in the South East region.
Speaking to reporters after leading a prayer session for a smooth end to sit-at-home in Enugu State and the entire South East at the the Chapel of Redemption, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), on Sunday, Most Rev. Chukwuma, who also doubles as the Anglican Bishop of Enugu Enugu Diocese, appealed to the people to support the government’s move through compliance.
“Government has given directive. My advice and appeal is that they should comply so we can save the economy of Southeast.
“Now the Governor has said it is safe to come out; therefore people should come out to do their business, and be free and set ourselves free from this bondage. It is a bondage, and we must be set free from it”, he concluded.
Also, in his homily at the St. Theresa’s Cathedral Nsukka, Bishop Onah, while commending Dr. Mbah’s initiative to end the sit-at-home syndrome, noted that the suffering in the land was too much.
He, however, begged the people to give the new governors of the South East the benefit of doubt.
Bishop Onah traced the insecurity and restiveness in the region to the continuous detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and appealed to President Bola Tinubu to heed Mbah’s call for Kanu’s release.
“The suffering is too much. But, please, everybody should have mercy. Those that are angry should calm down. Many of us are angry, but we have to be careful how we express our anger or we may cause more problems.
“It’s in this spirit that I understand the initiative by some state governments in the South East, especially the newly inaugurated government in Enugu state, to try to restore normalcy in the South East.
“But I want to believe and I want to affirm that this initiative must of necessity include an increase in the effort to secure the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from detention”.
On their part, the Presidents-General (PGs) of Enugu State Town Unions wondered why Enugu State should continue to be on lockdown every Monday whereas “both private and pubic offices in the capitals of other states of the South East region had since resumed businesses”, wondering why Enugu’s case should be different.
In a statement by the Coordinating PG, Barr. Paully Ezeh, the association said the loss of Mondays since September 2021 had resulted in untold hardships and caused incalculable economic losses in the state and South East.
“The governor’s promise to transform Enugu from a public sector economy to a private-sector driven economy; raise the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the present $4.4 billion to $30 billion in eight years, make Enugu one of the top three economies, restore public water supply in Enugu metropolis in 180 days, and eradicate poverty can’t happen if we continue to sit at home on Mondays. It presents our state to investors as restive, insecure, and unproductive place.
“The Association, therefore, appeals to both private and public institutions and people of Enugu to support the government’s efforts to restore full days of work and productivity in the state.
“We urge aggrieved persons and groups to take the opportunity of dialogue advanced by the Mbah administration and we equally join the Governor in his call for Nnamdi Kanu’s release to engender organic peace and national healing”, the Association concluded.
