Giving behind the “mask” has been a culture with mankind for ages. The Biblical teaching of not letting what your Left hand know what your right hand did, could be likened to the culture of giving behind the mask.
So what has the mask got to do with the culture of giving and showing concern to others? First, let me explain that in giving anonymously to other people, makes you a maskman. It’s an act of shielding self from error of pride and justification.
It is a humbling experience to sacrifice and offer help to others under a thick protective veil, reaching the unreached, the vulnerable, many whom you hardly ever meet or know.
Last week, I took to the mask of volunteering through Goldcrest family outreach and met hundreds across the city of Lagos, in need of one assistance or the other.
Kudos to Madam Agatha Chukwura and my sister, the immediate past Director General of government tourism training institute, (NIHOTOUR), Chika Balogun, virtuous ladies behind the mask, networking to mitigate the hunger and lack largely due the COVID-19 lockdown.
It’s not out of place to also unmask a concerned corporate supporter of the Goldcrest family initiative, Sympli Nigeria limited, which has graciously made it possible to reach and bring succour not only to the vulnerable but also to my friends in the media who are also in the COVID-19 frontline.
Monday was hectic for me as I “ masked” myself driving through the city to locate my colleagues, some at work and others working from home to deliver the palliative gesture supplied by Sympli, facilitated by chika Balogun.
Wearing the mask made from local fabric of ankara, is a different story. Last week, the ever restless and oxygenator of Nigeria’s emerging culture economy, Otunba Segun Runsewe had announced the critical need to protect the frontline professionals from the impact of the COVID-19 pandamic, hence a detailed intervention from his agency, National council for Arts and Culture (NCAC).
Otunba Segun Runsewe followed up Monday, this week with a blistering campaign to drive facemask wearing as a national lifestyle, with intent to suppress and reduce the person to person transmission of the infection through coughing and sneezing.
A great intervention possibly showing us the way to systematically mitigate theCOVID-19 impact and at same time, react positively to the economic challenge posed by the pandemic, as we can move around masked to do our business and retune our battered culture tourism economy.
Significantly, to mask ourselves protects the nation, our people and at same time, breathe life to the economy. Masking according to Runsewe who doubles as the President, Africa region of World Craft Council , has about one hundred percent capacity to reduce the spread of the covid19 micro droplets, thereby providing a safety net for us all to go about our daily business, not foreclosing the all important need for social distancing and personal hygiene.
NCAC under Runsewe has critically mainstreamed skill acquisition as a frontal intervention to grow rural economy, empower women and mitigate the scrounge of unemployment among the youths, an experience very handy as these vunerable class of Nigerians would be deployed to produce about ten million facemasks every three days to ensure Nigerians are kitted with masks made from local fabrics sourced and endemic from the six geopolitical zones.
Indeed, an NCAC powered culture economy clearly points to the future of a post pandemic economy recovery to which our natural, culture and tourism content must be well established.
So how do we get the presidential Committee on COVID-19 headed by the Boss Mustapha to do a rejig of its daily briefing on COVID-19 and position some very practical socioeconomic windows that can boost the confidence of 200million Nigerians?
I am of the opinion that time has come for the PCC to change strategy and respond to the expectations of the people by sharing with them not only the medical survival protocols but how to brace up to life during the pandemic by getting creative government officials who thinks out of the box like Otunba Segun Runsewe to practically give insight on how hunger and unemployment can be mitigated.
I want to believe that we can challenge and over come this trying times if we work behind the “mask”, you protecting me and I doing same very determined and sincere.
Olusegun Matthew Runsewe has set a very timely national agenda to which if all of us key into it, the possibility of the lock down been lifted and state borders opened to oil and lubricates the economy, banishing hunger and restiveness induced bythe pandemic will reverberate across the continent of Africa nay the world.
There’s no doubt Nigerians are also looking forward to a cultural musical and artistic response to Foster national unity and intervention at a time like this.
If Runsewe successfully drives the #protectnaijawithmask” campaign to open the the economy, it won’t be out place to say our culture is indeed our pride as nation and leader of black Africa.