NIGERIA: There’s A Good Side Of COVID-19

After watching how Coronavirus left China and rapidly went around the world invading every continent, Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres said the pandemic has thought the organization an important lesson. “The strongest health system in the world is as good as its weakest,” he declared, adding that the virus had demonstrated that nations must always work together.

For Nigeria, the lesson to be learnt is in the way the federal and state governments have reacted to the pandemic. While it would be right to accuse the federal government of not being proactive enough to anticipate the current rising figures, measures taken in the last one week have been unprecedented.

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 As of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases in the country had risen to 51 with Lagos and Abuja having the largest share. Lagos now has a total of 32 cases, FCT 10, Ogun 3 while Edo, Ekiti, Oyo, Bauchi, Osun and Rivers States have one cases each.

All international airports in the country were ordered closed while the land borders also remained closed. Federal civil servants from level 12 down were asked to work from home, and public gatherings of more than 50 banned. The government had also advised Nigerians to engage in social distancing and avoid close contacts with people with the presidency leading the way by canceling Wednesdays federal executive council meetings.

The two chambers of the National Assembly have also shut down for two weeks in compliance with the ban on large gatherings and promotion of social distancing.  Many of the legislators have also gone into self-isolation.

Many state governors and ministers have also gone into self-isolation after Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, and Muhammed Abubakar, governor of Bauchi State, tested positive for the virus.

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 Taking their cue from the federal government, nearly all states in the country had partially shut down government as civil servants on level 12 down had been told to stay home until further notice, and similarly banned public gatherings.

Some states had even gone ahead to issue guidelines on public transportation, stipulating number of passengers taxis or tricycles could carry.  By Wednesday, some governors went further to order closure of all entry and exit points in their states and threatened enforcement with security agents.

Lagos is leading the states in response to the pandemic with only 32 confirmed cases in the state, the government had ordered construction of a bigger isolation centre in anticipation of spike in number of cases. THE WHISTLER had reported that the state government had converted the National Stadium in Surulere into an isolation centre, and construction work already started. For its effort, the federal government had approved a grant of one billion naira to Lagos State.

As from Friday March 27, the country would be on lockdown. The level of awareness of the health and existential challenges posed by covid 19 is unprecedented. Everyone, from the top elites to the ordinary man on the street knows what the virus is capable of doing to an infected person and all are taking precautions and following directives of health authorities. The pandemic has forced us to change our regular habits. No more handshakes or hugging and people are now sensitive to cough or sneezing. President Muhammadu Buhari even showed us how to do the elbow greeting, instead of a handshake.

What this tells me is that Nigeria has the capacity to solve its problems. What has been lacking was the political will from leaders to do the right things. Our leaders at all levels have failed to provide required leadership to lift the country. And it is a shame.

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How can a nation that offers this kind of response to an imported disease not be able to mobilise against Malaria, Lassa fever and cholera epidemics that had ravaged communities in the country for decades? I listened to a medical doctor on radio recently saying malaria had killed more Nigerians in the last one month than from coronavirus, but there was more awareness about the virus among the populace than the ravages of malaria.

Malaria is a major public health problem in Nigeria and it accounts for more cases and deaths than any other country in the world. Malaria is a risk for 97% of Nigeria’s population and no one seemed bothered about this. A fact sheet on malaria prepared by the Economic section of the United States Embassy in Nigeria in 2011 showed that an estimated 100 million malaria cases of malaria are recorded every year with over 300,000 deaths per year in Nigeria.

Malaria kills more Nigerians than the HIV/AIDS and is responsible for an estimated 11% of maternal mortality.

What about Lassa fever? Nigeria has gone through five epidemics of lassa fever in the last five years. By first week of March this year, Nigeria had recorded 774 cases and 132 deaths spread across 26 of the 36 states and the federal capital territory. The Lassa fever virus is transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated with urine and feces of a rat.

In Nigeria, cholera is an endemic and seasonal disease that has become embarrassing to the country. Since the cholera pandemic which started in Indonesia in 1961, the world has moved on leaving Nigeria and some other countries behind.  The disease usually occurs annually mostly during the rainy season and more often in areas with poor sanitation. Nigeria has experienced embarrassing epidemics of cholera five times since 1970 when the first occurred. It happened again in 1990, 1992, 1995-1996, and 1997.

While country wide epidemics rarely happens again, many states, especially in the north, still experience cholera epidemics. This should not be so. Nigeria and Nigerians have shown the capacity to confront their challenges headlong when their leaders show leadership as it is currently happening with the coronavirus.

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What happened to the presidency, the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, the state governors and the legislators? What woke them from slumber? Is it because they are most affected by the covid 19, as some cynical Nigerians have suggested? This is why some Nigerians see the pandemic as a good thing for the country. Our leaders are testing positive to the virus but do not have the luxury to travel out of the country for medical treatment. They have to stay right here with the rest of us.

Lesson: this is the time for all elected and appointed leaders to show leadership and lift their people out of ignorance, poverty and diseases. We know they have the capacity, now they must show they also have the will to do the job. 

Suleiman is the Editor of THE WHISTLER

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.

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