Editorial: Are There Socio-economic Consequences For IPOB’s Sit-at-home?

FOLLOWING the non-appearance of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu for his court trial on July 26, 2021, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the leadership of the IPOB took drastic action to register its disapproval of the situation with Nigeria’s federal government. A sit-at-home order was announced by the separatist group in the Southeast region of the country, for every Monday until the release of Kanu.

It would be recalled that Kanu left the country in September 2017 following a military invasion of his home in Afara-Ukwu, near Umuahia, Abia state. Having fled the country under controversial circumstances, the bail granted him for medical reasons was reversed as the federal government accused him of violating the terms of bail. On June 29, 2021, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, announced the interception of Kanu on June 27, 2021, through the collaborative efforts of Nigerian security operatives and international aid. The court hearing on July 26, was then adjourned until October 21 after the Department of State Security (DSS) who had remanded the defendant in its custody, failed to produce him at the trial.

Powerful threats have been employed by IPOB to enforce the sit-at-home directive instilled fear in people leading to what seemed like overwhelming adherence by people and groups. Mondays in the Southeast are highly cherished by businessmen particularly, but what was a single day of profit compared to one’s life? However, Pro-Biafrans were not bullied into submission but adhered to the order in the spirit of solidarity.

Unfortunately, over the past few years, the country seems to have been hijacked by the activities of non-state actors who assume some level of authority and enforce directives successfully. The menace of Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria with its recent trend of capturing communities in the North Central region and hoisting flags to assert dominance has not attracted the urgent government response it demands. IPOB on the other hand has manifested enormous clout as a non-state actor as it is able to enforce directives with the result that millions of Southeast citizens comply.

The foregoing only draws a parallel between the power these organisations wield as non-state actors but does not suggest that IPOB shares any similarity with Boko Haram, neither does it attempt to lend IPOB a terrorist colouration.

However, the economic implication of the sit-at-home is brought to bear heavily on low-income earners who rely on daily-pay jobs to feed, as they cannot leave their homes on Mondays to fend for themselves. Anambra and Ebonyi State governors have bemoaned the cumulative loss suffered by their states and the Southeast region collectively due to the sit-at-home order. Some estimates have put the losses accruing to the Southeast at an average of N30bn since the first Monday of the sit-at-home on August 9. This development also points to the fact that the burden of the economic loss is borne by the Southeast and not the federal government.

The national economy is clearly not threatened by the observation of the sit-at-home because only a relatively small percentage of crude oil, which is the mainstay of the economy, is produced by the oil-producing states in the Southeast. Is it then any wonder that the federal government is unperturbed by the sit-at-home in the Southeast?

Having in mind the dire economic consequences that the sit-at-home order brings to the Southeast, IPOB should find a better way to draw the attention of the federal government to its grievances. It need not to be told that the federal government is nonchalant to IPOB’s recent style of agitation. Forcing the sit-at-home order while the economy of the southeast depreciates is not wise. While the federal government is paying deaf ears to IPOB’s demands it is also noteworthy that history has hardly favoured non-state actors around the world as such actors are easily branded terrorists who rarely get the sympathy of global powers.

Besides, instilling fear in the people whom IPOB professes to be fighting for and using violence on traders who come outside for their respective businesses by self-acclaimed IPOB vigilantes may be counterproductive. The group need not do more to justify the terrorist label the federal government had put on it, thereby reducing the existing sympathy it may have left from the rest of the world. There are huge questions left for IPOB to answer on why it seems not to have won the hearts of the governors of the Southeast and why many discordant tunes are still being played by sundry groups in the region. Why has IPOB acted more as a non-state actor instead of articulating and engineering its agitations through political means? This certainly is a better way to get the ears of international governmental actors. But we must also warn that if the government does not effectively respond to the disruptive actions of non-state actors, it would not be long before the country falls into a state of anarchy as a proliferation of non-state actors may become inevitable. It is unfortunate that the nation’s 62nd independence anniversary, which should have been a time of retreat and self-assessment was overshadowed by a fresh sit-at-home with provisos like lowering Nigeria’s flag in the Southeast touted.

The problem with this kind of order is that hoodlums and thugs could use it to perpetrate evil in the Southeast states. On Monday, September 13, 2021, some acclaimed “members” of IPOB disrupted a certain West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examination holding in Comprehensive Secondary School, Njaba Local Government Area of Imo state. They also set the building’s roof on fire and set ablaze eight motorcycles allegedly belonging to teachers. All these were done without strong responses from state security operators, before, during and after the events. The federal and state governments’ seeming helplessness to the sit-at-home days is a mockery of the sovereignty of the country. We urge more effective but responsible security measures for the benefit of the masses.

Prime Business Africa Editorial

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