The recent one week closure of the Onitsha Main Market, following renewed efforts to end the Monday sit at home in Anambra State, has reignited an important national conversation, one that extends beyond commerce and compliance into the heart of governance, security, and the social contract between the state and its citizens.
There is no disputing the urgency of restoring full economic activity in Anambra State. Markets are the lifeblood of the state’s economy, and Onitsha Main Market in particular stands as one of the most significant commercial hubs in West Africa. Any disruption to its operations reverberates far beyond traders, affecting supply chains, households, and regional commerce.
It is therefore understandable that the Anambra State Government seeks to confront the sit at home challenge decisively.
The intention to restore normalcy, protect livelihoods, and prevent economic paralysis is both legitimate and necessary. No responsible government can afford to accept prolonged shutdowns as a new normal.
However, intention alone does not resolve the deeper issue at play.
At the foundation of this challenge lies a constitutional and moral principle that must remain clear: security is the primary responsibility of the state. The duty to ensure that markets are safe, schools are open, courts can sit, and offices can function rests squarely with government.
This responsibility however cannot be shifted directly or indirectly onto citizens.
People cannot be compelled to resume normal activities in an environment where fear persists. Traders, civil servants, students, lawyers, and artisans are not choosing inactivity out of convenience or defiance. Many are responding to a lived reality in which attacks have occurred and lives have been lost.
Fear, in such circumstances, is not disobedience. It is self preservation.
It is important to state what is often overlooked in public discourse:
There is no civil servant who prefers to stay away from work.
There is no court that wishes to sit idle. There is no school that desires prolonged closure.
And there is certainly no trader who willingly abandons their means of livelihood.
The decision by market men and women to stay away on Mondays is not ideological. It is not political. It is driven by concern for personal safety in the face of threats from criminal elements who have exploited fear to enforce unlawful shutdowns.
When people weigh the risk of violence against the need to earn a living, survival instinct will always prevail. The closure of Onitsha Main Market for one week, and the accompanying warnings of punitive consequences, raises a critical policy question: can compliance be achieved without first restoring confidence in public safety?
History and experience suggest otherwise.
Normalcy imposed by threat is fragile. It may produce short term compliance, but it does not eliminate fear.
Sustainable economic activity is built not on coercion, but on trust, trust that the state is present, capable, and prepared to protect its citizens through visible intelligence driven security; dismantling of criminal networks; proactive policing; and sustained reassurance which will restore confidence.
When people see security, they respond. When they feel protected, they return naturally and voluntarily.
This moment therefore presents an opportunity for a more holistic approach one that balances firmness with empathy and authority with accountability.
Tackling insecurity requires more than directives; it requires coordination, intelligence, visibility, and consistency.
Restoring the full operation of Onitsha Main Market and other public institutions will ultimately depend on the government’s ability to convince citizens, through action rather than instruction, that their safety is guaranteed.
Economic life cannot flourish where fear dominates. Productivity cannot thrive where people are forced to choose between earning a living and preserving their lives.
Anambra State has always drawn strength from the resilience, industry, and courage of its people. Unlocking that strength fully requires an environment where citizens are not merely instructed to resume normal life, but are enabled to do so safely.
Security is not a favour granted by the state; it is a duty owed to the people. When that duty is visibly fulfilled, confidence returns and with it, commerce, learning, justice, and everyday life. Without this assurance, measures such as market closures risk creating the troubling perception that those who have suffered most from insecurity, ordinary traders whose livelihoods depend on daily trade, are being penalised for circumstances beyond their control.
Public policy must avoid any approach that appears to punish victims for their vulnerability, rather than confront the forces that placed them at risk in the first place. True restoration of normalcy will come not from sanctions against the powerless, but from decisive action that removes fear and protects those who have the least ability to shield themselves from it.
Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro SAN
Life Bencher, FCIMC
Past General Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association
Security, Public Confidence, and the One Week Closure of Onitsha Main Market
