In a major escalation of efforts to enforce its directive that businesses reopen on Mondays, the Anambra State Government moved to shut down one of the state’s most important commercial centres after traders continued to honour the weekly Monday sit-at-home order. This action comes days after the government announced stringent measures aimed at ending the practice that has crippled economic activity across the South-East for several years.
On Monday, Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo ordered the closure of the Onitsha Main Market for one full week after many traders ignored repeated government directives to resume normal commercial operations on Mondays and instead complied with the sit-at-home tradition. The market was cordoned off and sealed by security operatives following an unscheduled inspection by the governor and senior officials, during which a large number of shops were found locked despite government warnings.
Governor Soludo made clear that this action was taken as part of a broader push to normalise economic life in the state, describing the shops’ continued closure on Mondays as economic sabotage and a deliberate defiance of official policy aimed at reviving business activities across the region. He warned that if the market remained closed when officials returned next Monday, the shutdown could be extended to one month. 
The sit-at-home practice, which originated in 2021 in the South-East region of Nigeria, was instituted by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a protest strategy linked to demands for the release of its detained leader and has regularly resulted in markets, banks, schools, and public services shutting down on Mondays. Even after IPOB’s official suspension of the order, many residents continued to observe the practice out of fear of reprisals from those enforcing it.
Just days before the market closure, Pulseinnews had reported that the Anambra State government issued an executive order officially terminating the Monday sit-at-home for schools and workplaces with immediate effect. The order mandated that all staff, both teaching and non-teaching, must attend work on Mondays or face salary deductions of up to twenty percent or complete forfeiture of pay for non-compliance.
The governor reiterated that the state was open for business from Monday through Friday and that both traders and workers must comply with government directives if economic recovery was to be achieved. He emphasised that adequate security would be provided to protect businesses and individuals willing to operate freely and resume full commercial activities on Mondays. 
Onitsha is home to one of the largest markets in West Africa and a central hub for commerce in Nigeria’s South-East. Frequent Monday shutdowns have long exacted a heavy toll on local traders and the broader economy by interrupting supply chains, curtailing revenue flows, and eroding investor confidence.
Samuel Aina