Surviving disruptions: assessing the impact of Monday sit-at-home calls on informal street businesses in south-east Nigeria

This study examined the impact of Monday sit-at-home calls on informal street businesses in South-East Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of frequency of sit-at-home compliance on daily sales revenue and to assess the influence of security concerns/perceived threat level on business operational continuity. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted, and data were collected from a sample of 430 informal street traders using a structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated and tested for reliability using Cronbach’s Alpha. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, while Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that the frequency of sit-at-home compliance has a significant negative relationship with daily sales revenue (r = -0.62, p < 0.05), indicating that increased compliance reduces income generation among informal traders. Similarly, security concerns/perceived threat level were found to have a significant negative relationship with business operational continuity (r = -0.58, p < 0.05), suggesting that heightened insecurity discourages consistent business operations. The study concluded that Monday sit-at-home directives significantly disrupt informal economic activities in the region. It was recommended that the government should strengthen security measures and provide financial support to informal traders to mitigate economic losses and enhance business resilience.