Managing COVID-19 seems to be a numbers game as a larger population makes it harder to curb community infections, manage cases and quickly distribute aid. Thus, Nigeria’s large population makes it more difficult to track infections and ensure that residents in high-risk communities take proper preventive measures. India, a country with a population of 1.3 billion people has taken advantage of its resilient technology and healthcare sectors to fight the virus, ensuring that limited resources are adequately utilised.
In its early fight against COVID-19, India enforced a three-week countrywide lockdown on its 1.3 billion people. India immediately set aside $22.5 billion to share food to poor communities and support economic recovery for vulnerable groups. While this action was important in helping to manage the spread of COVID-19 and soften the impact on the poor, there were challenges in enforcing the lockdown as in-country travel continued, and relief to vulnerable communities were not shared fast enough.
India’s government has been reaping the fruits of strong investments in its education and technology sectors, which has allowed these segments to support the fight against the pandemic with the support of highly trained engineers and researchers. India has also in the last five years, introduced a unique identification number known as Aadhaar. With Aadhaar, citizens can easily claim relief and benefits. It has not worked perfectly in India, but it has given the Indian government a digital tool to deliver more targeted and less costly support.
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India’s government also introduced an app which informs citizens of COVID-19 exposure using Bluetooth and GPS information to track if citizens have had proximity with confirmed cases. India was also able to fund local research universities to introduce new testing methods, rather than struggling to outbid other countries for testing kits. Additionally, other startups and research institutes, some of which were incubated at the country’s research institutes, have introduced low-cost ventilators to fill the shortage in hospitals. Some treatment facilities are also using robots to distribute hygiene products and serve patients. Thus, limiting contact of healthcare workers with infected patients.
Nigeria can learn the importance of increasing local capacity from India, and the key role technology plays in disaster preparedness. India’s response also shows the importance of systemic actions in reducing poverty to build economic resilience. India lifted ~271 million people from poverty in the last decade, allowing the country to cater for a smaller vulnerable population amid COVID-19. However, in 2019, Nigeria became the world’s poverty capital with ~90 million people; thus, limiting the economic resilience of communities, and making it difficult to provide relief to such a large population.
Nigeria has taken steps towards utilising local expertise by empowering local manufacturers to supply face masks and other PPE – an important step in easing lockdowns. Additionally, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced that there is an assessment to support local labs with vaccine research. While these are important steps, the government needs to keep increasing its digital capacity to support new trends, such as the increase in distance learning, digital healthcare, and business digitisation. These measures are systemic, rather than end products and will need to start from proper investment in education, strengthening ICT infrastructure (technology and underlying solutions), and investing in local startups and businesses.
