I remember supporting the Proposed Lockdown and enforcement of Sit-at-Home Order by the FG in my earliest post as the only feasible measure to cushion the Spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, which is still ravaging the entire globe and equally threatening the existence of humanity.
I supported the policy following the geometric increase in the number of deaths been recorded by the Westernized and ‘first class’ rated countries who have unmatched medical facilities and health infrastructures. But today, the reality that poses in front of our faces has really buttressed that if we continue to copy all the Western Countries models of Fighting Covid-19 such as Enforcing National Lock down hookline and sinker, we may end up creating a further devastating social problem in the process of searching for Social Change.
The new Problem we’re going to create for ourselves will be ‘hunger virus’ which kills faster than the dreaded Coronavirus. It’s indeed a bitter truth that 80% of our populace live below a dollar or two per day. The Poverty rate in our country is so overwhelming that without daily “hustle”, majority of the populace cannot afford a meal. To sum it all, our economy is already headed for doom following a drastic drop in oil prices which is Our Major Source of revenue as a nation for the past 50years.
These realities which the current pandemic has bequeathed us, in my own humble opinion, should have pushed our leaders back to the drawing board, in a bid to explore more feasible mechanisms to support ourselves. Besides if our People (Nigerians) can at ease produce PPEs such as face masks, Hand sanitizers amongst others at the point when all hopes were almost lost, It’s an indication that if we look inwardly, we might still find a way to cushion the spread of the Virulent virus without National Lock Down.
Come to think of it, what happened to our local herbs(Trado-medicine) and technology? Why have we not given it a chance when some diseases, infections and Viruses which were alien to us in the past just like the present Covid-19, were driven into oblivion using such local innovations and herbs.
Our health system should equally channel its energy into tracing if mixture of one or two of our local herbs can help a Positive tested patient to be negative, while we await the orthodox cure. In addition, using the experiences shared by Seyi Makinde, the Oyo State Governor on how he recovered from the Virulent Covid-19 which he tested positive earlier, we can see that there could be inherent solutions to Covid-19 within our palms.
Therefore, at this point we’re in dire need of solution, I expect our Government to be more proactive and think above the Lock down because it’s causing more harm than good to the populace socially and economically. Besides even China where the virus emanated from, only isolated Wuhan City (the dominant Zone) and unlocked other cities just to ensure that there economy is not badly affected during the Post Covid-19 era.
Finally, As Prof C.C Soludo Suggested in his article captioned “Covid-19: Can Africa afford the lockdowns”, it’s time we think as Africans and explore the local opportunities within us to see if we can solve the problem facing us rather than adopting the foreign models with no established results.
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