Compliance level with the 14-day stay-at-home presidential directive as a measure to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic may have started dropping in some parts of Lagos.
Checks within the commercial city on Wednesday, day two of the stay-indoors directive showed an increase in the number of vehicles on the roads compared with Tuesday, the first full day.
Many believe this is an indication that the lockdown may prove tough to fully comply for 14 days running
Lagos is Nigeria’s biggest commercial city with an estimated population of over 22 million people, a majority of whom survive on daily income.
Residents had raised concern from day one of the directive that the lockdown would unleash hardship on the people in the absence of an economic stimulus that targets the citizens directly and would act as incentive for the citizens to comply.
Nigerians have complained that if they escaped the coronavirus, “hunger virus” would become a bigger threat in a country where nearly 80 percent of the estimated 200 million people are poor.
Although the Lagos State government is providing foods for indigent residents who are 60 years and above, that is however tied to the Resident Card, an identification which less than 10 percent of the state population possess.
On Idimu-Egbeda/Iyana-Ipaja road, BusinessDay reporter who monitored situations in Lagos, observed an increase in the number of vehicles and pedestrians on the road.
At the Idimu Police Area Command, close to the Isheri round-about, there was heavy traffic buildup with policemen on duty struggling to turn vehicles back.
One of the motorists who spoke to BusinessDay said he was headed for a pharmacy to buy drugs for his sick child at home, and insisted the police should allow him passage.
He complained that a pharmacy within his neighbourhood in Idimu does not have the particular drug he needed and was therefore driving to Egbeda, a distance of about 15km, when the police stopped him.
