When word of this pandemic got out, it set a lot of people thinking, enabled fear in some and met others at the very limit of their boredom, casualness and carelessness. For some of us, it left us at first with a sense of curiosity and wonderment. Is it possible that this can come into Nigeria? Would we cope? In fact, when I began to interrogate the virus, studying large narratives concerning the Spanish flu of 1918 and wondering if the world might see a repeat, a friend of mine dismissed me as a prophet of doom. In fact, I was told in the early days that it is a European disease. But I am curious by nature and cautiously adventurous by available funds and being a voracious reader means I am constantly seeking out more knowledge. I worried a lot about whether we had enough equipment, intellectual prowess, strategy and data analytics and the sheer discipline to keep instructions.
Our aggressive, in disciplined and self-entitled nature bothered me even more. Would we even be ready to comply? They were rhetorical questions at the time but today all those postulations seem to stare us in the face and make us uncomfortable. We now need more than ever before an antidote to fear for those whose psychological make-up is not coping with rumours, fear mongering fake news and information overload. As a certain level care giver, myself, I am having great difficulty convincing adults and children alike that we are not on the path to mass suicide and this too shall pass although it will take some time and change the way we go forward as humanity forever. There are too many of us with border line personality disorders, anxieties and on the brink of depression.
As a nation we do not have enough psychologists and psychiatrists to care for citizens in normal times. We are now needing them to talk to us on lock down anxiety, post lock down hypersensitivity and general anxiety information overload. Let them spread the gospel of managing fear, how to deal with rising aggression and how to go slowly in embracing freedom post lockdown. This is also the time to work on the psyche of those who don’t care very much, casual by nature and believe that Coronavirus is a hoax while going about happy go lucky, fail to comply to anything and attempt to visit you while you are on lock down.
I have no idea how we must deal with Nigerians who say, well, we must eat so all this nonsense of lockdown is not helping us. We are hungry. Some of these stories are so brazen that it gets my goat. And I see most of these online and on television. Soon as this is aired, we find a stay home public service announcement on the same platform. In a crude report we work against government position of the lockdown and immediately after we propagate our public service announcement. As a reporter covering COVID-19, you require responsible balance and safety rules. We can cover the same story without making it look like we are providing role model status for defiance. As I gather, the Ugandan President has said, God is busy, we have to do our part and he cannot remain only in Uganda attending to Idiots, so stay home.
With some ease of lock down by the authorities in Nigeria we saw the meaning of rush hour post lock down. The fight, the violence, the impatience, the anger so ridiculous to watch. There were limited bank branch openings. It was insane
With some ease of lock down by the authorities in Nigeria we saw the meaning of rush hour post lock down. The fight, the violence, the impatience, the anger so ridiculous to watch. There were limited bank branch openings. It was insane. Knowing the pressure in the last three weeks, it was a completely bizarre post lockdown outside world. Impatient Nigerians, hungry Nigerians, angry Nigerians and those who are just managing their mental health. Did the banks and other commercial institutions plan for this deluge? I am not so sure. Were the number of limited branches fuelling this behaviour? Perhaps. That then leads us to the question of post lockdown minimal opening of the economy. What will be the rate of compliance? What are the projections against the knowledge of indiscipline and poor infrastructural and human resources in most organisations? How good are we at gathering data and analysing same? How good are we at checking out best practices and learning from other nations? How great are we with implementation of strategies? Ease of lockdown comes with pains for both the governed and government. It is a whole new way of doing things, approached with caution and tested for the first couple of weeks before it settles. Adjustment can be made as we go along.
Government has provided some measures. Citizens must self-protect while complying with governments strategies and keep all the rules as best as they can. But let us be mindful that there are angry people out there. Slightly warped people too in these difficult times. And in order to help you understand all of this. In news elsewhere, specifically in Flint, Michigan in America, a woman who was asked to wear a mask as a pre-requisite for entering a supermarket refused to (even though those are state-wide rules) and got into an argument with a security man. She left in anger and her husband and son returned 20 minutes later and shot the security man who died from his gunshot wounds. Over a mask? Yes, over a mask. There you have it. Aside from the pandemic, there are other things going on out there. Please be careful. Enough said!
