Cases of COVID-19 are rising in Nigeria daily. The aftermath is a response by state government to lock down their land borders to other states while enacting laws to prevent people from gathering at worship centers, markets, clubs and large gathering occasions. Although the federal government hasn’t announced a firm plan to lock down with a grim to actually give a road map strategy to clamping down on the virus and bringing sanity to the environment.
What challenges me the most as an individual who wants the prosperity of her people is the braggadocio system being applied by my comrades who donate billions to central government coffers without asking for blueprints of how they intend to spend the money.
Let us not forget that the so-called loot being recovered by governments have not accounted for nothing as there are no evidence of them being used to ameliorate the sufferings of the people or provide infrastructure. Nigeria is a state that derive pleasure in suckling the phlegm of corruption.
As a regular commando-style, you may soon hear that snakes crawl into the central bank safe to swallow the money amid covid 19.
Nevertheless, this is not the basis of my write up this afternoon. I intend to query our approach to situations that need urgent and tacit actions.
The federal government and state governments are to be blamed in this regard. They allowed misinformation to thrive which caused panic. They fail to understand that to control diseases such as COVID-19, it is critical that human behaviour is controlled in a way that inhibits the spread of the disease.
The challenge with panic is that people change their behaviour erratically. They might even behave in a way that leads to the disease spreading, or poses a different risk entirely to them and their communities.
Misinformation psychologically can lead to panic. Truly, it does more than create panic. It can lead to wrong actions being taken by people.
In fact, we have already seen people purchasing chloroquine toxicity immediately they heard the drug might be effective through President Donald Trump' broadcast.
Right now, according to an Analyst, Doyin,
'the biggest threats are panic, politics and indecision. While COVID-19 is a serious disease and we should tackle it as such, we must do so with calmness and focus.We should never forget that, if the situation is handled right, most people are not expected to die.
The political aspect of the effect of this endemic is that public office holders no longer what to submit themselves to tests by health officials. They self isolate themselves, hiding in their havens. Does this affect their political portfolios? That is a question for another series.
Politics should have some boundaries. One such boundary is the containment of a pandemic. This is no time to make promises that are not immediately fulfilled. I was alarmed at the disparity between the public statements about Nigeria’s preparedness and the reality on the ground as revealed by ordinary people. An example is the accounts given by people who passed through Nigeria’s airports before they were shut down. While the politicians talked about money that had been assigned, two weeks later the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said that no money had been released .
What is needed at this particular time by the federal government is to show us the way to calm implementation of a clear and effective strategy.
Lastly, in the words of Doyin Odubanjo,
'we need to know that not making a decision is a decision itself. The rate at which this disease has spread has shown that we must be thinking on our feet. There is no time to waste. We must think, act, think again, and act again. We must be ready to make hard decisions if the situation requires it.
@yoursSincerely writes from Lagos, Nigeria.