South East economy’s resilience gives way as experts identify bane

Biggest economic crisis since civil war? 

Region’s biggest industry, commerce hit

SABY ELEMBA IN OWERRI

The Southeast of Nigeria may be facing the biggest crisis that’s befallen its economy in peace time post civil war period, and experts are blaming it largely on insecurity. Taking what would be regarded as an extraordinary position, they say the central government in Abuja and the five sub-regional governments of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states have abdicated their responsibilities to non-state actors,allowing them dominance on the security of life and property.

The high level of insecurity to both life and property has been one of the biggest threats to the economy of South Eastern Nigeria, a region made up of the states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.

That the economy has not fully ground to a halt, some experts say, only speaks to the resilience of the region’s people. But that resilience has a limit to which it can hold as signs are already beginning to indicate that the poor state of the economy is grossly affecting the living standard of the people in the five states of the region. This can be attested to by the lull witnessed in trade and commerce across the region.

A random survey carried out by our Business A.M. shows that residents in Imo State feel unsafe and no longer have the enthusiasm to carry out their lawful businesses anymore. Some business men and women interviewed are voting with their feet to go hungry rather than lose their lives. They have been calling on the governments, federal and state, to do what is necessary to return normalcy in the business climate and then ginger the economy in the South-East region for growth.

Anthony Nkwazema Opara, an Owerri based businessman and economic analyst, told Business A.M. that there was no way the economy of the South East, particularly Imo State, could thrive under the present atmosphere of insecurity.

He noted that the incessant killings and wanton destruction of business concerns have taken a huge toll on the development of Imo State’s economy. He further explained that the South East and Nigerians in general are yet to experience the real implications of the high level of insecurity in the land, pointing out that the resultant consequences will manifest in future and then dampen the economy further.

In an email response to questions by Business A.M., Romeo Jones Anyanwu, former chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Imo/Abia, said the South East geo-political zone’s economy is dwindling not only as a result of insecurity, but also as a result of the lack of or poor infrastructure.

According to him, “The government, both federal and state, allowed non-state actors to overwhelm them and the citizenry. At the beginning of these events, governments were not transparent with facts, as such the citizens never believed what the governments were saying in contradiction with what the non-state actors were saying.

Consequently, these people seemed to obey the non-state actors, rather than the governments.” Anyanwu, a lawyer, who resides in Aba, Abia State further knocked the government and security agencies, saying, “government failed woefully in their responsibilities to the citizenry. The law enforcement agencies were not fair and transparent in their conduct, as such there was a lack of cooperation between the state agents and the people. “Furthermore, the state security agents were not out to restore peace and security, but to act according to the whims and caprices of the ruling class, thereby alienating themselves from those who could help them with necessary information.”

Anyanwu, who is an entrepreneur, said the economy in the South East is poor owing to the dilapidated road infrastructure, noting that virtually all federal and state roads to and from the Southeastern states are in very poor conditions.

He also blamed the federal government for neglecting the South East in terms of development. According to him, the “development of the South East geo-political zone is not a priority of the federal government, instead the place is highly militarised, by all the federal agencies.

For instance, from Aba to Onitsha, you will pass no fewer than 50 checkpoints of police, Federal Road Safety Corps, Customs, Army, Civil Defence, Drug Law Enforcement Agents, etc, all fully armed. These agents constitute not only embarrassment, but also a threat to the people and investors.”

According to Anyanwu, the mere sighting of armed officers on the highway has some psychological signals that all is not well in these areas. Government, he said, should, as a matter of urgency, remove all these armed agents on the major roads in the South East, and that the agencies should change their modus operandi by engaging more in patrols and stop the check points where the major operations are illegal collection of tolls from motorists.

“The worst of the agencies is the police. On the said road of Aba to Onitsha, in some states, especially Abia, Imo and Anambra, in the morning and evening hours, they will split themselves and stay at every pole. This has been going on for so many years now. Only God knows how much in financial terms that has been lost from the South East economy to these federal agencies.”

Anyanwu estimates that the cost of this behaviour by these security agencies by way of extortions from motorists runs into tens of billions of naira, and he urges the new administration to show capacity and intellect, by restructuring the security architecture and removing this archaic road blockings.

He decried the sit-at-home on Mondays in the South East geopolitical zone, saying, “while other political zone’s are working for six days, those in the south East are working for five days, yet no state actor has bothered to investigate the cause, effect and solution to it.

“The south east is treated as not [being] part of the federation. Businesses are gradually shutting down and some relocating outside of the Southeast,” he lamented.

In view of the challenging state of the economy of the South East, Anyanwu beckoned on the new administration to see and regard the South East as part of the federation of Nigeria, noting that “the hard working and intelligent Igbos are essential for the development of Nigeria. They should be accommodated to support the upward movement of the country,” he stressed. Meanwhile, Stanley Iwuoha, a senior lecturer in the Department of Business Administration and Management, Federal Polytechnic Owerri, while commenting on the dwindling economy of the South East, stated that commercial activities both at the local and national levels constitute the mainstay of the South East economy.

According to the senior lecturer, “the current insecurity in the South East is making a mess of our biggest industry here, which is commerce.” The negative effects, he said, have “reduced income and, consequently, increased poverty and want”.

Other negative consequences, Iwuoha said, are “stagnation in the free movement of persons and flow of goods and services, dampening of the spirit of enterprise for which people of the South East are known for.”

He noted militarisation of the South East and the government is not making effort to contain the situation, including threat to and actual loss of lives as witnessed on a daily basis now.

However, “there has been this clarion call for our people resident in some parts of the country to bring their investments home, and I ask, how can they do this in an atmosphere of insecurity and violence? Furthermore, the spate of insecurity in the South East has put fear into our diasporans as they are no longer prepared to come home, thereby the South East is deprived of their financial and material contributions towards the development of our region,” Iwuoha told Business A.M.