The Anambra State Government has introduced a new directive requiring traders in designated major markets across the state to notify market authorities before shutting their shops on market days.
The directive, announced through the official X handle of the Anambra State Government, applies to traders operating in any of the state’s 41 designated major markets.
According to the government, any trader who intends to close his or her shop on a market day must first inform the market executive and clearly state the reason for the planned closure.
“If you are a trader in any of the 41 designated major markets and you intend to close your shop on a market day, you must inform the market executive before the closure date and state your reasons,” the government said.
The state government warned that traders who fail to comply with the directive will face sanctions.
“Any trader who disobeys this law will be sanctioned,” it added.
The directive is seen as part of the Soludo administration’s continued effort to restore full commercial activities across the state and enforce compliance with its policy against the Monday sit-at-home practice.
The Monday sit-at-home order has, for years, affected business activities in parts of the South-East, with Anambra, one of the region’s major commercial hubs, recording repeated disruptions to trade and movement.
Earlier in January, Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo ordered the closure of Onitsha Main Market for one week after traders reportedly refused to open for business on a Monday despite the state government’s directive abolishing the sit-at-home practice.
Onitsha Main Market, regarded as one of the largest commercial centres in West Africa, has remained central to the government’s campaign to revive Monday business activities and end the economic losses linked to market closures.
In a statement at the time, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, said the closure was not merely an administrative punishment but part of broader measures to restore normalcy and protect the state’s economy.
Governor Soludo had warned that the government would no longer tolerate actions capable of frustrating efforts to return the state to full commercial activity.
“The government cannot stand by while a few individuals willfully undermine public safety and disregard official directives meant to restore normalcy. This is plain economic sabotage. We are not going to allow this,” Soludo said.
He also warned that further refusal to comply could attract harsher penalties.
“If the market does not reopen for business after this one-week shutdown, it will be sealed for a month. And so on and so forth,” the governor added.
Soludo further told traders that they must either obey the government’s directive or leave the market.
“You either decide that you are going to trade here or you go elsewhere. I am very serious about this,” he said.
The latest directive now places responsibility on individual traders to formally notify market executives whenever they plan to shut their shops on a market day, as the government intensifies efforts to discourage unauthorised closures and sustain commercial activities across Anambra State.