Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has said that the South-East region lost at least N4 trillion in the last two years due to the sit-at-home order by separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
IPOB is the leading group for the agitation of Biafra land, South-East secession from Nigeria. Since the arrest and detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, the group has been involved in closing down businesses on Mondays in the South-East in protest.
Speaking at a meeting with Ndigbo-Amaka Progressive Markets Association in Lagos, Kalu noted that the Monday sit-at-home order has ruined businesses and also suppressed the economic growth of the five Eastern states and should not be allowed to continue.
The Deputy Speaker 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.
“If I do not tell you the truths as your son, then it will be difficult for anyone in governance from Ala-Igbo to tell you. I am pained by what our dear land has become. We have to be honest and sincere with ourselves. I make a heartfelt plea to every one of you.
“We cannot afford to retreat from our business endeavours. The stay-at-home order on Mondays has resulted in staggering losses of N4 trillion in the last two years in the south-east alone according to statistical data.”
Kalu is from Abia State, one of the five Eastern states, which also coincidentally happens to be the home state of the detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
