There’s an overpowering fright over the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping across the globe. As new cases are reported and death toll rises, fear squeezes many into a corner. Gradually, despair is supplanting hope in many of the countries affected. As you probably know, fear is a tormentor, it can rattle anyone’s  nerve paths. It  conscripts its own enemy. It feeds anxiety of what lies ahead. It makes people to be on edge. It brings confusion on decision making. To stay at home as many countries in Europe and America, and few states in Nigeria are now, or carry on to keep the economy moving, is a challenge that confronts all.    

Around the world, daily life is at near-halt after more restrictions on movement. We are living in uncertain times. When this plague will end, nobody knows. It heightens the tension for everyone, perhaps more worry for women who are pregnant in this terrifying season. This is the grim story of a pregnant woman in Massachusetts, USA, as reported by the Boston Globe newspaper. “It took my husband and I a long time to get pregnant. But after more than a year of tests, doctor appointments, shots, hormones, and disappointment, it finally arrived. We thought the worst was behind us. Then, a new, highly infectious virus spreading across China started making the news. It worried me, but only in a slightly distant, far off way. That, of course, changed dramatically over the past few weeks. When the coronavirus finally landed in Massachusetts, it landed hard, and changed everything. Our lives are upended in the blink of an eye…”

She is already six months pregnant, but as she says in trepidation: ‘Will the baby be safe’? Many are in similar situation, caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus. My friend’s wife who is pregnant now after 8 years of marriage is thinking whether her expectant child will be deformed in any way as a result of the disease. Countries have seen  their economies upended, stocks prices have tumbled, investors have lost trillions of dollars in investment. Nigeria has just slashed its 2020 budget by N1.5 trn.  Another recession seems inevitable. The questions are: how deep and how long? The naira has been adjusted(not devalued, CBN said at the weekend) at an exchange rate of N380/$ at the Investors and Export(I & M) forex window to reflect current realities.

In all of this, one thing is clear: It speaks volumes, that where we are right now is not where we desire to be. The gritty truth is that COVID-19 is a test of our national  character. It is a dreadful period for political leaders.  It’s not just a test of the bandwith of governments, but their methodical approach to problem-solving. In other words, prepping for COVID-19 should be seen as preparing for Doomsday. That is, perhaps why,  former Minister and presidential candidate Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, was fuming last week, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of doing next to nothing to contain the spread of the virus. Every president will for sure confront a crisis – or crises before he leaves office.

What is important is how he responds. Has the president responded appropriately? Opinions are divided on this. Don’t blame  Ezekwesili when she urged  the National Assembly to invite the President to address the lawmakers and the Nigerian public on his administration’s strategies for curbing the pandemic and the economic shock already here with us. In a press statement, she alleged that  at a time like this, the “Commander in Chief is missing in action, moving around, majoring in the minors of declaring events open while his citizens are panicked about the fast accelerating health and economic crises”. Hard hitting as always, Ezekwesili said  the President should come out of his “self-isolation and lead the country and the people to win these wars”  of terrorism and the present Coronavirus, adding that, “Nigeria needs nothing less than evident effective leadership”. Hers is a message to get to work.

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Well spoken, you might say. Truth be told, Nigeria needs to be on a war footing in its approach to the handling the spread of the virus. I understand why Oby is coming from: political  leaders are not judged like other men. At best, they are in power at the behest of the people. But the former Minister ought to know one thing : this is Buhari’s style. Crises  do  worry him, but his response rate is annoyingly slow. It’s a character flaw we must have to live with until his tenure runs its full cycle. He should have known that addressing the nation would have been soothing and appropriate. But again, that’s his style. There’s something Ezekwesili knows that many Nigerians don’t know.

According to a former staff of the World Health Organisation(WHO) whom I spoke to last weekend, the number of infected victims are far more than the 35 that was reported as at the time this column went to the press yesterday. The reason, he said, was to avoid widespread panic among the populace which may lead to total lockdown of the  country. With little isolation centres available in the country, the government may be overwhelmed if the actual number of cases are made public, the ex-WHO told me. He added that Nigeria wants to avoid the misstep of Italy which last week reported 793 virus deaths in a single day. Italy’s missteps underscore the importance of early, strict isolation measures.  That’s the point Ezekwesili wanted to make. Recall that only recently, the Director-General of WHO, Dr.Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, warned African governments to prepare for the worst case scenarios for the pandemic. Worse still, Nigeria does not have a health system that works. That is already evident. However, it will be unkind to say that this administration  has done nothing to contain the virus. Before Dr. Ezekwesili threw the ‘bomb’ at the President, the presidency had told Nigerians to ‘stay calm, not to panic’, that the government was on top of the situation in managing the coronavirus crisis.

The statement from the presidency was signed by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu. The presidency highlighted measures being taken to manage the crisis. These include restrictions on travel from countries worst hit by the virus, and suspension of visa issuance to nationals of these countries ravaged by the pandemic. This took effect on March 21. The Federal Government has also  set up a presidential task force to accelerate effort in this regard.

Whether these measures are enough is  a different matter. The situation we are in now requires a bipartisan approach from all, irrespective of political affiliation. This should not be a time to score cheap political point as the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, is trying to do. Look at the United States where the virus is ravaging all the states, Congress and the White House are hand-in-glove, negotiating a $1.8trillion economic stimulus plan that will be likely concluded this week, despite the disagreement between Democrats and Republicans.   So far,  the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has tried.

On Saturday, it scaled its economic stimulus package from N1.1trn to N3.5trn, to cushion the impact of the fast-spreading virus. CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele announced this during the Bankers’ Committee meeting. Also, approval has been give to grant funding facilities to pharmaceutical companies in the country to enable them to procure raw materials and equipment to boost local drugs production in the country. Earlier, the CBN had announced measures to cut its  intervention loans rate to 5 percent, directed banks to restructure tenor and also created a N50bn  credit support for healthcare and other industries. Altogether, what is on ground to contain the spread of the disease is not sufficient in case  of emergency. This is not the time to live in denial. It’s a time to come together and get rid of the invisible enemy. As experts say, the virus can be stopped but only with harsh steps. The challenge of COVID-19 is for real. It calls for cooperation and not confrontation.