Follow Us on Google
Different countries are responding in different ways to the threat of coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19. The measures rolled out by various governments include but are not limited to ban on international and domestic travel, closure of schools and national borders, restriction on movement, total lockdown of citizens such as in Italy, mandatory 14-day self-isolation or quarantine for people arriving from certain countries, suspension of major sporting events, closure of non-essential public spaces such as restaurants, cinemas, cafes, and nightclubs, and outlawing handshakes, hugs, and kisses in some cultures. 
Driving these measures is the desire to reduce physical contact among people. In France, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the most effective way to impede the speed of the spread of the virus was through “social distancing.”
Some businesses deemed essential have not been affected by the restrictions and bans. They include shopping centres and groceries, food malls, pharmacies, banks, beer, wine, and spirit retailers, petrol stations, post offices, and so on. Although primary and secondary schools are still open in many countries, they have been shut in Spain and a few other countries.
Combatting coronavirus requires a substantial change in human behaviour. People are encouraged to observe the basic rules of hygiene such as washing hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 minutes or using hand sanitizers with a minimum of 60 per cent alcohol content. People are also advised to stay at home when they are not feeling well as a strategy to reduce the spread of the virus.
While many Western countries have taken strong actions to support their economies and to protect the health of their citizens, the Nigerian government has done little but behave like an ostrich. Some Western countries have banned airlines from flying to certain countries where the coronavirus has recorded major fatalities, Nigeria has not taken similar action or banned its citizens from travelling to those countries. While some countries have suspended major sporting activities and cancelled major events that attract large crowds, Nigeria has looked the other way.
In the campaign against the spread of coronavirus, tissue papers, hand sanitizers, and face masks have become essential tools. If you ask people to wash their hands regularly with soap and water but people cannot find clean water to use, the basis of hygienic living becomes unrealistic. If you ask people to use hand sanitizers and people cannot find them in shops, the campaign to get people to cleanse their homes and environment will be resisted.
To what extent is Nigeria actively engaged in, or prepared for, the campaign to halt the outbreak and spread of coronavirus? The question is timely and appropriate. While presidents and prime ministers of other countries have addressed their citizens to outline the actions they have taken to reduce the spread of the disease and its fatality rate, Nigerian leaders have remained taciturn, as if the citizens live in a different world far removed from the global community.
A worldwide health crisis caused by a little understood virus requires dedicated and scrupulous efforts by all governments to control the spread of the disease.
In Nigeria, there is the perception in the public domain that the government is not doing enough and has not prepared the citizens sufficiently to understand why a radical change in behaviour must precede efforts to prevent further spread of coronavirus. Many people have sneered at the amount of money invested by the government in the fight to contain the virus. On Monday, March 9, 2020, health minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said at a press conference at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) that the government has set aside N1 billion to prevent the spread of coronavirus. That did not sound like an impressive figure.
How can a country such as Nigeria with an estimated population of over 190 million people invest only N1 billion to fight coronavirus? The action is like dropping a coin in the middle of a river. It will not have any significant impact. Other countries with smaller populations have done better and provided more funds in the prevention/intervention.
Beyond providing N1 billion, Nigeria’s other effort to halt the spread of coronavirus is the setting up of a 12-member committee by President Muhammadu Buhari. The committee, named Presidential Task Force for the Control of the Coronavirus-19 Disease (COVID-19), is expected to serve for six months. The committee is chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
An indication of the futility of the committee is the low level of expertise of the members. A statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, named the committee members as: Mr. Boss Mustapha; Dr. Sani Aliyu; the Minister of Health; the Minister of Interior; Minister of Aviation; the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Services; the Minister of Education; the Minister of Information and Culture; the Minister of Environment; director-general of State Services; director-general of the Centre for Disease Control; and the World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative.
You can see immediately that the committee is not really a collection of experts on disease control, biosecurity, and medical practice. What the government has assembled is a group of bureaucrats and politicians who have been asked to prepare the country “for the unlikely but probable major outbreak of the disease” in our environment. Look at how we deceive ourselves. There are certain priority tasks the government cannot assign to a committee populated by bureaucrats.
Nigeria cannot afford to be complacent with the way it approaches coronavirus on the ground that it successfully controlled the spread of Ebola virus six years ago. Ebola virus is not the same as coronavirus. Their clinical history, their mode of infection, their period of incubation before manifestation in victims, and their treatment procedures are certainly not the same. While it took time to develop a vaccine for Ebola virus, there is currently no known vaccine or treatment for coronavirus. This is why there is so much uneasiness in the community about its effects.
A developed country such as Australia has responded robustly, impressively, and proactively to the threat coronavirus poses to its economy and population. While Nigeria committed a paltry N1 billion to tackle the virus, Australia with a population of fewer than 26 million people announced last week a staggering $17.6 billion economic stimulus package to sustain jobs as the economy endures the devastating impact of the spread of coronavirus. That’s a whopping sum of money injected into the economy.
Part of the package includes tax relief for small businesses, a once-in-a-lifetime cash payment to welfare beneficiaries, and money designed to keep trainees at work. There will also be payments to casual workers who contract coronavirus and stay out of work because they are required to self-isolate in order to avoid infecting other people. Furthermore, the Australian government will set up an estimated 100 coronavirus fever clinics aimed to provide health advice to people in remote communities. The clinics will treat people with mild symptoms thereby reducing public pressure on emergency departments of public hospitals, and also lessen the burden on clinics operated by medical doctors.
In the fight against coronavirus in Nigeria, the stakes are high. It is either we get things right now or we succumb to the deadly impact of the virus.
