We think it was quite prudent of President Muhammadu Buhari to have ordered the shutdown of Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as a necessary measure to stem the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the latest worldwide scourge. In his well- thought-out broadcast, the President put a time limit of “an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11 p.m., Monday, March 30, 2020.” We have no doubt his decision was apparently based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Compared to past plagues and pandemics in history, ancient and modern, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) could be compared to a flea bite. The Justinian Plague, early in the last millennium, the Black Death of the Middle Ages, and, indeed, the Spanish Flu (Influenza), the epilogue of the First World War, were much more intractable, taking hundreds of millions to their untimely deaths. Churchill wrote of the Black Death that “we read of lawsuits where all the parties died before the case could be heard; of monasteries where half of the inmates perished; of dioceses where the surviving clergy could scarcely perform the last offices for their flock and for their brethren…the character of the pestilence was appalling and…was more than the human spirit could endure.”
COVID-19, to quote US President Donald Trump, is vicious. The world, suddenly, is resigning itself to casualties that were beyond contemplation a few weeks ago. The deaths of thousands in Italy and Spain of elderly citizens are gut wrenching; the prospect of 100,000 Americans being lost to this pandemic, nearly double as were killed in the Vietnam War, is hard to accept. The realities of this pandemic seem to shame centuries of advances in the health sciences. The reaction time of countries has been slow, vaccines would later emerge but not early enough to save thousands. Claims by Nigerian scientists are very comforting, though their habitual unwillingness to take their findings through regular clinical tests and peer review has always been their weakness. We hope this time things would be different.
Now, the initial objections raised by a few Nigerians on the legal basis of the lockdown are normal in a democratic society, though it ought to have been understood that if ever there was a situation that called for an emergency, the Coronavirus deserved no less. Luckily, the 1999 Constitution as amended, provides in Section 305 (1), (2), (3), (c) (d) and (e) that when there is actual threat to public order and public safety the president could take extraordinary measures and issue a proclamation of emergency to restore peace and security.
And Nigerian citizens realised this was an emergency and have responded in a most supportive manner and we commend all of them.
While we reiterate our support for the President’s action for being in the best interest of the country, indeed, it is our regret he did not act sooner. Even more troubling is the President’s silence on Nigerians who live from hand to mouth, who survive through daily markets, whose sustenance is a daily struggle. These are millions who do not come under the Social Investment Programme, including the Cash Transfer scheme, a scheme which, after five years, ought now to be ended because, as happened everywhere else it was tried. Besides, it is riddled with corruption and it tends to have the narcotic effect.
We commend the Lagos State Government for its efforts to fight the pandemic. The Federal Government’s grant of N10 billion to the state to help its efforts is deserved. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has visibly led the effort and he seems to appreciate that Lagos is the epicentre of the pandemic. And many Nigerians appreciate the contributions of Lagos, including its former governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who donated a N200 million to be split between the state and the NCDC. Mike Adenuga also chipped in N500 million to Lagos State. More problematic is the state’s assistance to 250,000 Lagosian families who need material assistance in view of the lockdown.
The exact criteria used to distribute this aid are murky. The data of the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency seems inadequate. It should be fine-tuned. The enforcement of the lockdown is a sensitive issue because we have never had a situation like this. The fracas between worshippers and the Lagos State Task Force at the Agege Central Mosque shows that the Task Force needs reorientation. Brute force should be de-emphasised.