BY CHIDI NKWOPARA, OWERRI.

Economic activities have ground to a halt in Imo State as commercial banks, in obedience to the marching order of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, effectively locked out their customers.

Already, some citizens have started complaining bitterly that the economic crunch occasioned by the on-going industrial action has reached a crisis point and passionately appealed to labour and government to quickly resolve their differences.

“The man-hours lost is comfounding. Economic activities are stalled. The banks are closed and people cannot reach their funds domiciled in the establishments. This is sad”, Mazi Damian Nze lamented.

He was of the opinion that good spirited individuals, including religious leaders, royal fathers and chieftains of political parties should intervene in the interest of the citizenry.

In her own response, Miss Oluchi Ikegwuruka said: “The dangerous practice of keeping huge sums of money in private homes has taken the centre stage again.

Children have remained at home as all public schools are under lock and key. The situation is very frustrating”.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dr. Obinna Duruji, said government is still prepared to and will continue to dialogue with labour.

“We are limited by resources. Labour should be talking as Imo citizens. Our investigations show that no state has accepted to pay or has started paying what labour wants Imo State Government to pay workers”, the Commissioner said.