The novel coronavirus which became manifest in China in 2019 is the biggest global issue that has been recorded in modern world history.
To date, the pandemic has claimed millions of lives and is still doing so and the most humanly frustrating aspect of it is that nobody knows anything about it.
COVID-19 has defeated all the great technological, medical achievements and feats arrogantly claimed by the front-running nations of the world including China, the United States of America, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and several others.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and even the United Nations (UN) have apparently ‘conceded’ defeat and are not talking about looking for ‘cure’ again. They are rather talking about how to prevent a ‘second wave’ of the pandemic from triggering off another round of ‘lockdowns’. The implications of this on the economies of nations is better imagined.
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria recently said it publicly that his nation would not want to experience another season of ‘lockdowns’ adding that his country’s fumbling economy might eventually collapse.
This, may not be the real problem. The real challenge seems to be the approach of the government to the battle to stop the spread of the pandemic and perhaps, prevent the possibility of witnessing a ‘second wave’.
In addition to paying lip service to the fight against COVID-19, the recent EndSARS protests that swept through major cities of Nigeria has further confirmed how very insincere some of those in positions of authority have been. Palliatives that were meant to be given out to the masses were mismanaged.
Because of the near-non-existence of medicare, most Nigerians are relying on ‘home-made’ measures to keep coronavirus away from their families. Locally made ‘concoctions’ are being consumed by a large section of Nigerians. This, to us, is not good enough.
As a matter of fact, most deaths recorded these days in the country are being caused by COVID-19 but there is no way the government can confirm this due to lack of testing kits.
Governments at all levels in the country really needs to stop relying on ‘trial by error’ and functionally engage in meticulous and sincere moves to tackle COVID-19.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
