By Christie Doyin
It is needless defining Corona virus or COVID-19 as it has come to be known globally since while a few countries across the world are still battling to get out of the first onslaught, many others are already contending with the second phase which has earlier been predicted as more devastating than the first.
As we have it now, it may be worse than we even expected, especially in Africa and more especially in Nigeria since our attitude towards the pandemic is annoyingly despicable. This is why it is pertinent that Nigeria as a country, take a second look at the success rate or otherwise of the pandemic with death toll of over 1 million and infection cases well above 52 million globally.
As a result of the devastating effect of the pandemic globally, health managers and infectious disease experts came up with the social distancing and limited gatherings, among other safety protocols and also has continued to persistently announced the importance of keeping to the measures, especially now that the second onslaught, which has been predicted would be more serious then the first.
It is sad that despite alarming rate of spread and effect, Nigerians still find it difficult to obey the life saving simple rules of social distancing, hand washing and use of facemasks when outside your home or personal cars, especially in crowded places. Obviously, we are not as disciplined as other nationals and that is why we take the issue of COVID-19 with so much levity and indifference.
As sad as it is too, governments at all levels are not helping matters as they find it difficult to enforce the rules of safety measures put in place. Sadder still is the fact that top government officials and office holders are more guilty of this indiscipline and nonchalance towards observing the COVID-19 safety measures, so ask me, how does government enforce it?
It is ironical that government, which through its ministries and agencies urged the use facemask, hands washing and social distancing is facing accusations from different quarters of using the outcry and safety measures as excuse to divert and siphon money into its covers for its officials all because they are the most culpable of these safety rules measures.
For the ordinary Nigerians, especially in Kwara, the fear of death from hunger overrides fear of death from Corona virus. The fact that government did not deem it fit to put hunger and poverty alleviations in place to help in checking flagrant disobedience of the rules, it became difficult in enforcing them.
Without giving credibility or any sort of excuse in defence of those who in obvious disobedience of Corona virus safety measures, swarm on warehouses and stores where COVID palliatives from different donors were kept by their government, was as a result of prevailing hunger in the land. The ripple effect of this is increased cases of Corona virus and deaths.
A hungry man they say, is an angry man. It is a fact that when a man is hungry, his reasoning ability is decreased. Such a man would not have time to observe decorum, rules and protocols, what is foremost in his thoughts is food, especially not such that are seen as not even enforceable. It becomes the case of “Ebi kii w’onu, k’oro mi w’obe”. Hunger does not allow for reasoning or discussions. The result of that is increased pandemic and possibly, more deaths.
But a Professor Aisha Gobir wrote, ” It is wisdom, love for self and others and patriotism to obey the COVID-19 guidelines. These measures will help reduce transmission and flattened the curve. The scientific community is getting to know the disease better but still needs plenty answers”
Just a few days back, we read the news that a strange illness is killing them in Kogi state, ‘Strange disease kill over 50 in Kogi community’. A state where despite the number of cases of Corona virus deaths recorded, Governor Bello of the state claimed the virus does not exist in Kogi state. One wonders how mean some could be.
As part of his first assignment in office, America President-elect, Joe Biden, inaugurated a committee of experts to look into the issue of COVID-19 and address it. The fact is that the second wave of COVID-19 infection which hitherto has been predicted to be on coming is most likely to have come and already here, considering the increased wave and number of cases. Schools in some states of the country are being closed as they record cases of the virus.
Countries of the world, even those with advance medical technologies that were severely devastated at the first onslaught are still not out of the woods. The USA, UK and more European countries are under siege of COVID-19. In all these, many Nigerians are still indifferent. Imagine Nigeria that do not have capacity to address simple health problems playing to the gallery with utmost carelessness on Corona virus matter. Sometimes I want to align with those who said God loves Nigerians more than people of other nations.
The Federal Government, sometimes in July, this year, reportedly launched a diagnostic kit, RNASwift, for the identification of casual agent of COVID-19. The Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency, NABDA, Prof alex Casmir Akpa, which developed the test kit, said it is an indigenous test kit designed, developed and validated in Nigeria for the identification of the casual agent, SARS-Cov-2, which causes COVID-19. It will also, according to the DG, revolutionalise Africa’s PCR-based COVID-19 testing and expand the capacity by at least 50 times as well as reduce the cost by more than 500 percent as compared to conventional kits.
The hope of Nigerians is that this kit and the series of others that followed will not only be effective but be made available and accessible to all considering that the new COVID-19 surge seems to be more pandemic than the first. And perhaps this time government will be more serious about enforcement of the safety guidelines and provision of necessary palliatives to the citizenry to enhance compliance.
President-elect Biden noted that “There’s a whole lot of things that we just don’t have available to us,” including real-time data on personal protective equipment and the distribution plan for COVID-19 vaccines”.
So if America is saying this, we have every reason be afraid and therefore take adequate precautions.
“Unless it’s made available soon, we’re going to be behind by weeks or months,” and in his administration’s coronavirus effort, Biden told emergency responders, nurses and other frontline workers at an online event in Washington that “So, I just want to tell you that that’s the only slowdown right now that we have.”
“A third wave of coronavirus infection has gripped the United States, and the country’s death toll crossed 250,000 people on Wednesday”. And I can only say there is trouble, big Corona virus pandemic trouble.
*Doyin writes from Ilorin via e-mail: [email protected]
