cough out N250,000 as demurrage and related charges to the ship and warehouse,” he said.
Also, the action which led to banks and oil companies remaining closed throughout the day, for fear of possible violence for non-compliance to the sit-at-home directive made it impossible for any cash withdrawal.
But an ex banker, Mr Johnson Durojaiye, quoting some statistics, said with the Nigerian business community suffering billions of naira in costs from each holiday observed in the country, even when the informal sector is alive on most holidays, a total shut down of both the formal and informal sectors, as was done on Tuesday is bound to cost the economy more than has been estimated.
“In that regard, the volume of business transactions lost to the sit-at-home order in the affected regions, known for their business activities, can only be an issue for debate, but when National Office of Statistics comes out with the figure on the cost, many will be shocked,” he said.
According to Durojaiye, part of the ways of seeing Nigeria have robust economy is to strife to reduce the number of holidays and any occasion like the pro-Biafran group’s order that can make shutting down of all business houses possible.
But to the leaders of the groups, there is no sacrifice that is too much to pay for an oppressed people to be free.
