What could have been prevented by restricting international movement into the county at the early stage is costing the Nigerian economy a lot more?
Africa’s largest economy has the record of being the second country in the continent behind South Africa, with the highest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus pandemic, with over 16,000 of its populace so far infected with the virus as of 15th June 2020, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) data.
That’s an increase of over 186 percent from the 5621 cases seen a month earlier, showing how the virus is fast spreading in the West African state. As of today, 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory have reported at least one case of the virus, and Lagos state, the country’s biggest commercial city, being the epitome of the virus having recorded over 7103 cases.
Wrong timing and Lack of preparedness.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus was first discovered around December 2019, in Wuhan, the central province of China, and on January 30th, 2020 the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
As was the case with many others, Nigeria claimed it was ready for the coronavirus in terms of detection and response in case of its importation, even though it’s glaring that the Western African nation was not.
It was clear that like many other countries, Africa’s most populous nation undermine the extent of the virus by not swinging into action that would help in averting the importation of the virus
First, at the time, there were several public outcries over the non-screening of chartered flight passengers coming into the country from high-risk countries where the virus had spread to.
It was not until March 23rd that the Federal Government restricted international flight to and from the country.
Sadly, the index case of the virus had already been reported in late February by an Italian man who flew into the country through Ethiopian airlines.
If the approach of closing the borders or following guidelines by quarantining international visitors for a minimum of 14 days were adhered to, impending dangers from the virus probably would have been averted.
Analysts have tasked the government to always be proactive in handling issues that call for public concern Coronavirus leaves Nigeria with no alternative to critical Infrastructure Spending.
With the new world order that has largely exposed the depth of infrastructural deficit, our seeming lack of means to cushion the effect of economics paralysis in case of exigencies such as this and an obvious display of unpreparedness of a pandemic of this magnitude; it is very beginning to put in place a tactical team that can begin to proffer crisis management solutions for a state like Lagos which is not just the epic centre of the novel coronavirus but also the commercial capital of the country.
As we have rightly seen that a total lockdown of the state economy won’t be a sustainable solution due to its multiplier effect on the economy of the Lagos residents due to the fact that 75 percent of the 26million inhabitants of Lagos survive on daily income keeping them indoors when the government can’t provide for them what to survive on would be counterproductive.
Rather now is the time that government at all levels should ensure that they increase the tempo of enlightenment campaign about the reality of time that has come to steer us in the face we all have to learn to be responsible in living with this virus. Also it is not only enough to enlighten the populace but it is very important to enforce guidelines and approved protocols in the prevention of further spread of the virus while simultaneously seeking solutions via research and clinical trials.
The biting effect of this pandemic cannot be over-emphasized because as of today there is no set date for schools to resume; though some are having online classes in all sincerity, the number of children whose parents can afford the online learning is less than 25 percent of the total number of school children. Hence the educational sector which was hitherto on the downslide before now will further be at a disadvantaged position due to this pandemic.
As the earlier normal, the health sector and education sectors, two critical factors necessary for human capital development, have suffered years of infrastructural neglect and low budgetary spending that has placed both sectors with some of the worst statistics in the world.
That has been the case for years since the country’s political and elite class could conveniently seek medical treatment abroad leaving the masses and the most vulnerable to grapple with the country’s failing health system.
The situation could have been much precarious for the country but for the private sector that came in to support the fight by building isolation centres, donating of test kits as well as other Personal Preventive Equipment (PPE).
The government of the city now says it would adopt a strategy of home care treatment for mild cases, a move that has triggered criticism across fronts from experts who are warning that it could be dangerous.
It is believed in very many quarters, that Lagos State having being selected by the Rockefeller Foundation as one of 100 Resilient Cities in the world should have immediately adopted some of the recommendations as laid out in the “Lagos Resilience Strategy” which was comprehensively put together by the state government in collaboration with the office of the vice-chancellor, Lagos State University, the centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos and 100RC.
It is also believed that the state should have been better prepared.
It is however not too late to put these strategies in use for a better State. No one had foreseen the coming of COVID-19.
Lagos State presently leads the pack in the record of the confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
The call for the government to focus on critical infrastructure investment in the state with 26 million people isn’t new.
