Currently a large part of the country is on total lockdown or partial lockdown. Economic activities almost every part of the country is crippled. All this is courtesy of the pandemic coronavirus that has already claimed lives and infected hundreds across the country.
Due to the absence of viable healthcare system and the fear that the deadly virus might spread rapidly in the country, the Federal Government declared a total lockdown of the commercial capital of the country, Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and Ogun state. The reason is not far fetched, Lagos State has the highest number of confirmed cases and being the gateway into the country, Ogun state is the only state that borders Lagos State and has shared history of the virus with Lagos, while the FCT is another gateway. Prior to this, most states have implemented various forms of measures to contain the spread of the virus.
We agreed that the lockdown is important considering the contagious nature of the disease. Infact, some other parts of the world adopted same measure to contain the spread of the disease. But has the government handled the lockdown effectively with care for the welfare of Nigerians? The FG failed to consider the economic impact of locking down the country on the citizens.
The driver of Nigerians economy lies in the informal sector, a sector that is barely captured in the economic data system of the country. Millions of Nigerians sort their lives and subsistence daily, while millions still lives below a dollar and are in abject poverty. No doubt, the government must take measures to contain the spread of the disease and also safeguard the lives of Nigerians, yet adequate palliatives must be put in place to cushion the effect of the lockdown.
The United States of America that declared lockdown made adequate provision for its citizens to cushion the effect of the economy that would be affected by the stay at home, same with other parts of the world; this is in spite of the availability of concrete social security provision and structure that captured every citizen of those countries. Here in Nigeria there is no concrete social security for the citizens. Millions of Nigerians are jobless, in poor state of health, many do not know from where their daily intake would come from, million are homeless, yet the best the government could do was to lockdown the country without recourse to the welfare of these set of people. Even those in the private sector affected by this lockdown may lose their jobs by the time the lockdown is lifted.
In our previous editorial, we maintained that the coronavirus pandemic would expose gray areas in our socioeconomic lives as a country especially in the healthcare system. It is of note to add that the pandemic and this eventual lockdown has beamed the searchlight on the dearth of social security for Nigerians. The Buhari-led government may push the various social investment programmes as a form of social security for Nigerians, but Nigerians know that they are not covered under the Conditional Cash Transfer or any other social investment programme of the government.
The truth of the whole matter is that the economy is weak, by the time the lockdown is lifted, lives may never remain the same for most Nigerians. It is important that the Federal Government roll out viable, concrete and blanket palliatives that would capture all Nigerians to avert social disorder. There is still ample time to do the needful.
