Enugu Stakeholders Unanimously Endorse Ban On Sit-At-Home 

Stakeholders and representatives of various bodies, institutions, organisations, associations, professional bodies, government officials, and heads of security and intelligence agencies have unanimously endorsed the ban on the sit-at-home order in Enugu State.

The stakeholders who rose from a town hall meeting in Enugu have the ban on the Monday sit-at-home order by the Enugu State Government, saying that it is detrimental to productivity, investment flow, and the Igbo spirit of creativity, entrepreneurship and commerce.

They enjoined members of the public to resume work and go about their normal daily businesses as various security and intelligence agencies have, in their joint and collaborative efforts, given assurances of citizens’ safety.

The town-hall equally backed and commended Governor Mbah “for the laudable steps taken so far to ensure peace is returned to the state, which include his recent visit to the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the release of the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu”, which the stakeholders said would “expedite the process of national healing, national integration, and national reconciliation”. 

This was even as Governor Peter Mbah described the syndrome as a setback to the delivery of the campaign promises of his administration, noting that the state had lost N10 billion on each Monday.

On his part, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, Ahmed Ammani, who spoke on behalf of the heads of security agencies in the state, said that the South East region had lost well over N5.375 trillion to illegal sit-at-home, urging the people to go about their lawful businesses as the heads of the security agencies had "galvanized the personnel, operational and intelligence resources of the agencies, and deployed them towards ensuring adequate security and safety of the people.

The stakeholders made their stand known in the communiqué adopted at a town-hall meeting organised by the Enugu State Government at the Old Government Lodge, Enugu, on Saturday.

The stakeholders, after extensive and exhaustive deliberations equally gave their total supports to “any security measure or measures and other steps the State Government deems necessary in order to end the Monday sit-at-home and get people back to work in the overall interest of the state and its residents”. 

While urging the security agencies to continue to work round the clock in order to reassure citizens and residents of their safety every day of the week, the town-hall equally called on the Enugu State government to “resuscitate, overhaul, rejig and strengthen internal security mechanisms, such as the Community Policing, Neighbourhood Watch, Forest Guards, amongst others, in the state”.

They called on members of the public to support the crime fighting efforts of the government and security agencies by sharing information on suspicious movements and gatherings by strange persons or groups of persons in any part or borders of the state.

While emphasising more public enlightenment on the adverse impacts of sit-at-home on Enugu State, it urged persons and groups with genuine grievances to take the opportunity of dialogue offered by the Government of Enugu State to engage the government on their grievances to ensure lasting peace and security in the state.