It is no longer news that the Covid-19 pandemic has been ravaging the entire world. As at Wednesday, May 6, 2020 there are 3,724,688 cases with 260,938 deaths in the world. This pandemic has brought many advanced nations to their kneels including USA which is the world’s biggest economy and strongest militarily, with first class infrastructures and health facilities. As at the last briefing in May 6, 2020 she has over 1,216,739 cases and 72,233 deaths. It is projected that USA will record about 134,475 deaths by August 2020. Five weeks ago, we had less than 200 cases in Nigeria. Today, we have 2950 cases with 98 deaths and 481 discharged and with gross inadequacies in preparation and medical facilities. Testing remains abysmal. Some governors are hiding vital health information like COVID-19 related deaths, thereby exposing more people to the pandemic. Like many of our things in this country, it is alleged that there was a deliberate laxity on the part of the authorities to do the needful. If the airports and borders were closed early enough, the affliction rate would have been greatly reduced. The airports were left open to allow the high and mighty outside the country then to return. Of course, the big men brought the pandemic into the country. I am not interested in this direction of analysis; my interest is from when the authorities eventually woke up.
It is four weeks now that the federal government placed Lagos and Ogun states and the Federal Capital Territory on lockdown on the account of the spread of COVID-19. Other state governments also announced their own form of lockdown. Governor Nyesom Wike’s measures appear to be more comprehensive and strict. Some critics see them as draconian. But the good news is that Rivers state has recorded very few cases. This is highly commendable. We have since seen all manners of palliatives by spirited individuals, corporate bodies, churches and state governments. Some of the palliatives from state governments are very ridiculous and laughable. How can a kindred share a bag of rice, one tuber of yam and one carton of indomie (noodles) or an autonomous community sharing ten bags of rice, two bags of beans and ten cartons of indomie (noodles)? How about the crowd that gathers to share these peanuts? Nigerians in Diaspora are contributing money and sending palliatives to their various communities. And their efforts are better than what governments are doing in terms of quality and quantity of items being distributed. My community is one. I thank our sons and daughters abroad. Maybe that is what was alleged that the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs was using as excuse for the lopsidedness in sharing money in the northern states from our commonwealth to the exclusion of states in other zones. According to the allegation, she said that southerners have people abroad who can assist their families and communities, while the northerners do not have. You can see this porous mentality cum argument. We also saw how security agents turned the closure of state boarders into lucrative ventures. They collect money from people and allow free movements of people and vehicles. The bane of our development efforts is lack of accurate and recent data. Another challenge is insincerity on the part of our leaders. Worst still, Nigeria has no safety nets or welfare programmes for her citizens and the most vulnerable segments of the society. This is pathetic and therefore culpable, given the huge human and natural resources at her disposal.
It is estimated that between 70 and 80 percent of Nigerians depend on daily struggles and hassles for their daily needs and livelihood. Some say that the figure is higher. Based on this fact, Prof Charles Soludo, an erudite scholar, has argued against complete lockdown by most African countries because of its devastating impacts on these economies and their people. African nations already have weak economies and their people are very poor. These nations are likely to record more deaths from hunger than from the disease. Very good argument! I will return to this poverty topic shortly. Prof. Steve Ibenta (my friend) called for caution on the blanket opening up of the economy. Dr. Reuben Abati (a notable columnist), drawing from the ugly experiences in Denver Colorado, during the Spanish flu of 1918 and similar mistake in Marseilles France between 1720 and 1722, where the authorities succumbed to the pressures from business people (with their narrow profit motives) to open up those cities only to sustain unimaginable disasters, shortly after. The cities lost nearly half of their populations. Other patriotic commentators have also added their voices for or against the debate. I want to add that I see great danger ahead if governments succumb to the massive pressures to open up the whole economy without adequate precautions and arrangements. I therefore, support the school of thought that the lockdown should be relaxed in phases.
For inexplicable reasons other than poor leadership, Nigerians are used to poverty. According to The World Poverty Clock, Nigeria is the world’s headquarters of extreme poverty. In a report released in May 2018, Nigeria had 87 million poor people replacing India with the population of 1.3 billion people and with only 73 million people who are extremely poor. In a recent report (May 4, 2020) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 40.1% (or 82.9 million) of Nigerians are extremely poor. The NBS in the same report put the urban poverty index at 18.04% while the rural poverty rate is estimated at 52.10%. A report about five years ago showed that there were 112 million poor people in Nigeria. The point I am making here is that poverty rate is even decreasing though at a sluggish rate. There are no reasons why it shouldn’t be too low. After all, China was able to pull out over 700 million of her people from poverty in less than three decades.
At this juncture, let me go into little history and my own experience on how people survive unexpected/unplanned/
Then my personal experience … when I was shot by kidnappers in July 2012, the main worry of my relations, colleagues and associates was how can the ever busy Prof Chima Onuoha be in one place for one week. I also thought that I can’t survive being tied down with all manners of medical fittings for one week. But wait a minute, I was in the hospital and being assisted to make any move for six months. While in the hospital, I engaged myself intellectually, at least to reduce the boredom and stress of my predicament. I wrote a number of journal articles while hospitalised.
What points am I making? People have passed through more horrifying and difficult times and survived. Adversity sometimes can be turned into innovations and achievements. And this COVID-19 pandemic will not be an exception. With serious leadership, this country can use the moment of this pandemic to address her hopeless health infrastructure. Recall that no race has suffered the level of persecutions like the Jews in this world, yet Israel is a great nation. People live for the economy and not the other way round. The major challenge is that governments at all level (local, state and federal) have refused to do things right or sincerely.
I have other worries which are:
– Why are many of the northern states not observing the physical and social distancing guideline, particularly during burials?
– Why are some Imams and Christian leaders still gathering crowds in the face of this pandemic? I even listened to a cleric who told an equal overzealous assembly that there is nothing like coronavirus and they were hailing him. That was self deceit probably hinged on ignorance or assumed immortality.
– What is the motive behind moving almajiris from northern states to southern states this period? Why are they being hidden in trucks? It is on record that some of these almajiris being moved to other states have tested positive to COVID-19. Northern leaders have refused to educate and rehabilitate the almajiris for decades and they are taken to part of their cultural/religious heritage. Why moving them to the South now? Could there be sinister motive?
– We saw some COVID-19 patients in isolation centre in Gombe State demonstrating openly yesterday for lack of attention from government. The video clearly showed them mixing up freely with the other members of the public. What can we make out of this?
– Where are all those religious healers who will not allow us to rest during normal periods? They have all disappeared. I hope Nigerians are taking note.
I observed the high level of congestion and crowds in banks, markets and many places in Lagos on Monday, May 4, 2020 during the partial lifting of the lockdown. There were traffic jams all over the place. Down here in Port Harcourt, the whole roads were blocked with vehicles.
The dangers ahead … when the lockdown is completely lifted, the same poverty and ignorance will make people to throw caution to the winds. There won’t be anything like physical and social distancing. The mercantilist, prosperity preaching and fake religious leaders/healers will resurface and continue to deceive gullible followers and members of the public in believing in the protective powers of the Holy Spirit and Allah. And people will be more careless as crowds will build up again. The various markets in the country will resume fully. The consequences of this nonchalance will be dire. The infection rate will skyrocket and there will be massive deaths. The government will plead alibi, trying to exonerate itself by stating “as a democratic and listening administration, we gave the people what they wanted – freedom”. Of course, that is freedom of death. Poverty will be exacerbated, there will be the real economic dislocations, unemployment rate will triple, crime rates will increase exponentially and there will be melancholy in the land. The same economy we are trying to preserve will be in a shambles. By then, the advanced nations will come with their so-called vaccine having condemned all indigenous African efforts (like the Madagascar’s ‘Covid Organic’ or the herbal drugs produced by the monks in the Ewu Monastry, Delta State, Nigeria). This will continue to tie African nations to the economic apron spring of the western nations. I am not a prophet of doom. I am only thinking aloud…
Benedict Chima Onuoha
.Onuoha, a professor of Management, writes from Port Harcourt
