WHY THE HASTE NIGERIA?

Since hearing the President’s speech on plans to reopen the country on the 4th of May, I have been sulking in silence pondering on the wisdom behind such a weighty decision and it’s implications on my country. I kept on asking WHY? Because of a truth, I know that we are not yet ready to manage this new phase the government is hurriedly trying to impose on the poor masses.

In the first instance, you don’t reopen a country like Nigeria when you haven’t flatten the curves of the pandemic.

You’ll all agree with me that we are now at the stage of community transmission which is the most dangerous. This can be seen in the way the figures keep rising up astronomically without any sign of abetting. This means that we haven’t seen the peak of this virus in Nigeria, at least not with the current statiscs of recording 300 plus infections in 48 hours.

In the light of the above, one would have thought that the government would have wait a little bit while it continue to work asidously in flattening the curves before considering any reopening. But nay, they are in a hurry to sacrifice the lives of poor and innocent Nigerians on the alter of political and religious expediency.

Yes, I know there are economic implications should the lockdown prolong, but Nigerians must be well and alive first before you talk of building the economy. I ask again, who are they building the economy for?

The figures we are currently witnessing are what I call “lockdown figures”. How much more when the lockdown is lifted and people start mingling in the course of carrying out their business activities. Your guess is as good as mine. God forbid bad thing!

One will argue that there would be inter-State border lockdown. You and I know that the various States lockdown has not been very efficient in curbing the spread of the virus considering the high level corruption bedeviling our security apparatus.

I would have suggest that the government sustain the lockdown for another period of14 days while ramping up testing capacity and improve further on the distribution of parliatives. And when the curves are being flattened then we can consider reopening.

Now someone will quickly disagree that other countries like China, America, etc are reopening, why not Nigeria? Now let me tell you, the reopening might work in advance countries with workable systems and effective leadership, but I will like to suggest that the reverse will be the case in most African countries (Nigeria inclusive), as I don’t have confidence in our systems and the leaders to properly manage the reopening for now vis a vis the fight against the virus.

I strongly feel something is wrong with this decision and time will tell.

In conclusion, since the government is bent on reopening the country, I hope the President who is the Commander in Chief, will rise to the occasion to lead by example. Nigerians want to see him come out of his cocoon to lead this fight from the front. If he’s so passionate about reopening the country at this material time, then he cannot continue to hide in an apartment in Aso Rock while giving bi-weekly address, dishing orders to the poor masses to embark on a sucide mission.

We should see the President beginning to visit the different isolation centres in the country to encourage the patients and boost the moral of health care providers in the front line.l of this battle.

Anything short of this will amount to a new system of government which I term: “A Government of do as I say, but don’t do as I do”.

May God help my country.

Maiwa’azi Hosea is writing from Jos, Nigeria

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COVID-19 Nigeria’s Reopening: Why the Haste Nigeria? – Maiwa’azi Hosea