In his broadcast to the nation on Sunday, March 29, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari said: “From the first signs that coronavirus, or COVID-19, was turning into an epidemic and was officially declared a worldwide emergency, the Federal Government started planning preventive, containment and curative measures in the event the disease hits Nigeria.”
This opening statement showed the government waited for the virus to be declared a pandemic before it could take any measures.
Perhaps the most half-hearted decision announced by the President during his broadcast was the two-week restriction of movement of people in Lagos and Ogun states, including people in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). Buhari said the decision was based on the recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC. Arguably, the decision was not properly thought through. The idea that Lagos and Abuja represent the centres through which coronavirus infections were spreading across the country cannot be sustained on valid research grounds. Restriction of movements of people in these three areas on grounds of population density and number of confirmed cases (Lagos and Abuja), as well as proximity to Lagos (Ogun) symbolise a government’s misunderstanding of how to deal with the spread of coronavirus in the country. 
There are some fallacies that need to be cleared here. Ogun State is close to Lagos as Oyo State is. Ibadan is not too far from Lagos. If you must shut down movements in states that are close to Lagos, surely Oyo State should be included. The second problem relates to how to control inter-state movements that are made through narrow or hidden pathways that may not be known to security agents in order to effectively enforce the decision. The third problem is the short period of the stay-at-home order.
I am not aware that any country, state, or local council in the world had imposed restrictions on movements for just two weeks and that the short period proved effective in controlling the spread of coronavirus. Although people with suspected symptoms of the virus, including those who are already infected with the virus are required to self-isolate or be quarantined, that is not the same thing as the stay-at-home order.
There is no evidence that, if people in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja were compelled to stay at home for a fortnight, there would be significant reduction in the spread of the virus across the country. What about people in other states? Would their movements be restricted also? The government’s decision suggested that whenever Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja sneezed, the rest of the country could catch cold and perhaps the flu. That was an overstatement. It is incorrect and indeed misleading for the government to assume that if you control the spread of coronavirus in Lagos and Abuja, you have effectively destroyed the virus in the entire country.
Nigerians are a gregarious people. Our population density is a problem. Our traditional belief systems are major obstacles. Our open marketplaces are dreadful channels through which coronavirus could spread quickly within our communities. While the government can shut down churches and mosques and other places where people gather in large numbers, it will be difficult to completely close marketplaces. For people to be ordered to stay in their homes for two weeks, they must be able to buy food items in bulk they can store in their homes. Food can be preserved where people have uninterrupted supply of electricity to operate their refrigerators. Unfortunately, steady supply of electricity is still a luxury in Nigeria.
It is important to adopt the most radical measure to fight the spread of the virus. So far, the government has been shy of taking those measures. For example, days after the government ordered people to stay at home, the same government retreated and said marketplaces where food items were sold could remain open from 10am till 2pm. It is not how long people intermingle in closer proximity with one another that determines whether they could be infected by the virus. Rather, it is the level of personal hygiene, how close people come in contact particularly with other people who are infected, the ability to maintain social distancing, and regular washing of hands and use of sanitisers that will determine how quickly the virus would spread.
Coronavirus are unlikely to be stopped in Nigeria through the current measures enunciated by the government. To borrow a cliché, what is worth doing is worth doing well. The government should either adopt far-reaching measures that affect virtually the entire population (excluding people on essential duties, such as medical personnel, the police, the army, and other emergency services workers), or drop out of the global campaign to fight the spread of coronavirus. In the campaign against coronavirus, the Nigerian government cannot afford to do things by halves.
In his address, Buhari admitted that “Many other countries have taken far stricter measures in a bid to control the spread of the virus with positive results.” You have to wonder why the government cannot match those strict measures taken by other countries. How long would Nigerian people continue to expose themselves to the risks of infection and possible death caused by coronavirus? How long would the government dither before it takes productive actions?
Buhari also said that, “By washing our hands regularly with clean water and soap, disinfecting frequently used surfaces and areas, coughing into a tissue or elbow and strictly adhering to infection prevention control measures in health facilities, we can contain this virus.”
Washing hands regularly sounds like a sensible message but it is an illusion in a country that still lacks potable water. At the beginning of the spread of the virus in Nigeria, there was little public information campaign aimed to create awareness among citizens and to sensitise people to personal hygiene practices that are critical in the fight against the disease. That was why some pastors spread misinformation by denying publicly that there was anything known as coronavirus. We have not yet seen any of these pastors visiting hospitals and isolation centres to use their healing hands and powers to restore the health of people affected by the virus.