By Olaniyi Opanuga.
I have noticed with nostalgia that many journalists are no longer as enthusiastic as before but merely getting by with ink flowing faintly from thier pens.
New generation journalists are not aggressive enough. Investgative journalism is slumbering. I had expected inquiries into certain areas rather than begging the question especially the need to take the politicians and government officials to task when things are not going on well, being the Fourth Estate.
The power of advocacy seem to be waning. The fire of the media is no longer burning as it should be just as the vibrancy of the civil rights activists seems to have been consumed by the cacophony of hate speech. We should be asking them questions and they must answer them. That is the duty they owe the Nigerian citizenry. For instance, for how long will the country be locked down and what’s the lead time for the implementation of unlocking strategy ? What is the Federal Government doing to prepare for the worst scenario? What measures do we have in place as a substitute to lockdown? What are we doing to stem the tide of infections and complications? How will the citizens, organisations and institutions survive this ongoing lockdown? Are we going to have extention..if so why ? We are just going to be commanded as if we are prisoners. Government policies and decisions must be justifiable and reasonably so. Will the Federal Government fail to put money into the pockets of the people using the BVN and adopting other approaches for those who don’t have bank accounts or will it be content with the methods that merely create opportunities for stealing among the politicians and bureaucrats?
Now the leadership appears boxed in at crossroads. Now we need to learn from all knowledge areas including my field…Operations Management. I can see that the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC) is busy rolling out figures. However, we need more than statistics. We don’t need news but actions. Charts and graphs that are merely decimating human value is useless. We need data and information about our health facilities nationwide and how every citizen can get help speedily in an emergency free of charge. Emergency cases will be minimal if the personnel of our community health centres will be equipped and the system strengthened to deal with minor health challenges with sense of duty and customer service orientation. We have the primary,secondary and the tertiary levels of our health care delivery system with clear roles and responsibilities but we have issues with resources and capabilities.
The rot in our health care delivery system has not been addressed as yet. The fears being expressed tend to create panic among the people as if coronavirus is more than a respiratory disease . I know it gets serious with time. It is infectious but can be curtailed. The treatment can done symptomatically especially fever, chest pain,dizziness, breathing difficulty and coughing. I am not a medical doctor but I know that we simply need to break the transmission chain through social distancing, protective masks and regular hygiene and get people to come up for treatment fast once they have the symptoms. Except one has underlying medical conditions COVID-19 is not likely to be a death sentence. Because of the fear of quarantine and isolation a lot of people are receiving treatments outside the official line of sight, which means they are not captured in the government statistical data. If I may ask : how many affected Governors, senior government officials and influential individuals are quarantined or put in isolation centres ? Talking about managing operations in relation to health they need to know how to deal with constraints and uncertainties and deploy resources to deal with crisis…..especially by building resilience. Rather than demonstrating leadership we hear of billions of naira being spent with nothing to show but unbridled diversion of monies and goods meant for the citizens as relief items. Well, it is left to Nigerians to demand for accountability of all foreign and local donations. The politicians and government officials seem to be enjoying themselves while they imprison the people that voted into power. No business owner/ entrepreneur whose line of business or stream of income has been be shut down will pray to continue to stay at home…to feed on what, with workers, family members and other dependants?
Yes, lock down may be the right option in the first place but are we not going to find some other solutions? Can’t we learn from other countries that have not locked down, yet they are flattening the curve of COVID-19 infections?
Organisations are losing production output daily and industrial capacity utilisation is grounded at zero …meaning assets are wasting away while debts are mounting with interest for organisations enjoying bank facilities or owning the banks. Inventories will be having thier expiry dates drawing closer and some losses may arise from export/import, shipping, in- bound and out- bound logistics, damage, pilferage depreciation, insurance and quality costs. Payment to contractors and suppliers will be delayed. There is possibility of impending shortages ( especially food shortages) leading to higher rate of inflation post COVID-19. All these point to economic recession.
Today, people are dying more from extra judicial killings in the hands of our security agents, accidents and other ailments than those dying from the so much dreaded COVID-19. Doesn’t that say something about us as a people?
Our youths are going into crimes now more than ever before due to hunger and starvation. A lot of people who tested positive for COVID-19 had other health issues. In fact we need to ascertain the the quality of the test equipment and the validity of the tests carried out. In psychosomatic medicine we learn about medical conditions being influenced by social factors. First and foremost, one of the underpinnings of any virus infection is immunity problem. Many people are poor and their living conditions are horrible. Hygiene rules are not considered priority in an environment of lack. Access to food, drinking water and habitable shelter is difficult to millions of Nigerians. We have a Government that has failed the people in the areas the UN Millennium Development Goals ( MDGs) metrics.
This country is sinking by the day.
A few billionaires and millionaires will emerge mostly through fraudulent means but this country may never recover from the mess in years. Except there’s a bailout massive business and industrial failures will occur. Which bailout are we even talking about? Nigeria doesn’t have that capacity. Unemployment, inflation and crime rates will be very high .Note that our local and foreign debts now are very scary. Forget about what the Debt Management Office ( DMO) is telling us.The future of Nigeria is being compromised with the accumulation of debt, clandestine agreements and the enormous treasury looting that is going on.
Today, this COVID-19 has been politicized. For how long will the government lock down and what is being done in the interim? I’m repeatedly harping on the same question and this is deliberate.
For me the Federal Government is just doing a waiting game…a
copy cat so to say. Lockdown is not the solution. Vaccines will not be available for commercial purposes overnight. In any case manufacturers of the innovative drugs may be expecting to see higher levels of mortality and debility across the world to justify commercialisation. That is to say: governments must be prepared to quickly intervene and fund the various clinical trials-efficacy and safety tests that are going on. Every country seems to be hiding something about these innovative products. The World Health Organisation ( WHO) is not working hard enough or maybe this arm of the United Nations is also part of the balance of power politics.
There are other options. The cabal, the bureaucracy and the political class are benefiting while investors and producers are losing every blessed day. They have the resources to stay indoors for a whole year. They will get paid every month. Thier huge allowances may even increase. But how do artisans, contractors , farmers, traders and labourers survive with thier families? What happens to our children’s education? What happens to the workers in the private sector….will employers be able pay workers while they stay at home….will they be able to guarantee jobs? How many people can work from home? Employers will soon be negotiating half salaries and with time no salaries and eventually no jobs!
There are millions of Nigerians who live on daily paid jobs. I don’t think we really give a deep thought to the mess we are in already. If care is not taken we will get to a point where people will prefer to die of COVID-19 than to die of hunger. Then mass protests and civil disobedience will begin nationwide or States so affected. Right now those who have one thing or the other to do including reasons associated with health, safety, business,property,projects or jobs in the locked down States cannot do so.
Now the point I’m making is this: let’s have plans to solve the problems of COVID-19 other than lockdown by leveraging the strategies and experiences of other countries.
Nigeria needs to go back to work. Selective restrictions, social distancing ,emergency response and hygiene rules can be enforced.
Get every citizen free masks and sanitizers. Make test centres ubiquitous and expand our medical facilities to include mobile medical centres. Some medications are available to treat COVID-19 cases before it gets complicated. Let there be intensive public health education. Local Government health officers should be trained to embark on massive community health campaigns.
As we speak people still cohabit and interact freely in thier homes and communities without adherence to social distancing rule.
The crowded cemetery where Abba Kyari, late Chief of Staff to the President was buried is in itself a disregard to the social distancing rule. It shows that the Government has broken its own rules. Everyone at that event should have been quarantined.
