A Necessary Change From The Present Topsy-Turvy Approach In The Fight Against COVID-19

By Joseph Tedwins Emudainohwo.

Putting aside the glitz and glamour of the bi-weekly addresses by both the Federal and State Governments, it has become very clear to all, and especially to the suffering public that our government’s agencies (Federal and States) have failed us in the way they have handled and executed their different strategies against the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Viral pandemics of this nature are generally attacked by adopting policies that promote the containment of the spread of the virus – (through massive and widespread testing and contact tracing), and also by adopting policies that promotes the mitigation of the spread of the virus – (through lockdown, social distancing measures, and the quick development of an effective vaccine).

There is no doubt that these government agencies have failed by all means in attempts at containing the virus. No massive and widespread testing and effective contact tracing have taken place in the country and in the states since the outbreak of the disease. Our attempts at mitigating the further spread of the disease have also failed.

Why won’t the strategies fail when these Federal and State Government agencies have shown that they are experts at, and are very good at theoretical speculations and the issuance of guidelines without any matching results.

So far, these government agencies have amassed so much resources from the government, and from private donors, but nothing is getting through to the people, by way of palliatives or health care facilities on the fight against the disease – (all that the people get is talking (guidelines) without actions. As one vulnerable person puts it, “the government agencies can effectively reach me with daily text (sms) messages, but it cannot reach me with palliatives.”

While you will agree with me that, developing a vaccine is definitely a ‘no-go area’ for us for the now and perhaps in the future (if we continue towing the path of “Government Magic”), you also must agree with me too that the Federal and State Governments agencies in charge of coordinating the delivery of palliatives to the people have suddenly become novices and learners (totally becoming grossly inefficient) when it comes to giving back to the vulnerable people in the society.

So far, the palliative measures (the social investment programmers), ordered in place by both the Federal and State Governments have not been well articulated and executed. How then do you expect the people to have complied with the guidelines put in place by the government. The failure in that regard, greatly hampered the Federal and State Government’s effort at mitigating the spread of the coronavirus.

By asking the people (including the very vulnerable persons amongst us), to stay at home, and to maintain social distancing, for weeks after weeks, without palliatives, is it not expected that the process will fail. Thank God that the lockdown is gradually being eased, because, the ‘hungervirus’ was becoming more deadlier than the ‘coronavirus’.

While the total lockdown lasted, the majority of our billionaires as well as private corporate entities also failed us. Instead of making their donations and contributions of several billions of naira directly available to the people by ensuring that it is directly channeled into the provision of foods and essential services for the vulnerable public, they resorted to handing the billions of naira to government and their agencies for the provision is now a non-existing service to the public. This is when it is obvious that such donations, no matter how good the intention is, and no matter how massive it is, it will not get to the masses that needs it. Haba! Is this not Nigeria?

We thank God that the exception has been the excellently executed personal 85 million “Nonpartisan” Special Palliative Package that was diligently distributed to the people of Delta Central Senatorial District, by HE The Deputy President of the Senate – Most Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege – (The Obaisi of Urhobo Nation), as well as by a few other philanthropic gestures by some private individuals.

It was as if the government and these billionaires and the private corporate entities were oblivious of the fact that the majority of our people (approx. 98%) are daily earners and live off their daily earnings. Do you know what such sum of money converted to food items would have meant to the millions of vulnerable people in the society?

As if living without their daily earnings was not enough, the people were, by the lockdown, also saddled with the settlements and payments of their regular bills, as they were trapped in a vicious struggle for survival under the poorly organized and poorly supervised lock down (without palliatives).

However, it was always my candid opinion that, the appropriate way to go, to ensure a collective and successful fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, was for us to agree with, and immediately adopt the measures as were elegantly postulated by the erudite Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo (Prof), so that we can infuse a more humane approach to the fight against the virus. We cannot kill people to fight the virus. The idea is to keep people alive in the fight against the virus.

The Prof recently wrote, and I agree with him, as representing my thoughts that, the government’s focus should be on exploiting the opportunities offered by this pandemic to move my Delta State and the country forward. The thinking is for us as a state and country to discard the usual copy and paste approach in the fight against the pandemic, and adopt a more robust home-grown approach that would enable us efficiently battle the pandemic. Why must we ‘copy cat’ all that Europe, America, and China does, when, we are existing under different climes? Socio-economically, environmentally (weather-wise), and politically, we are different from Europe, America, and China, so we must immediately stop this current inefficient ‘copy and paste’ approach, and press the re-set button, to engender our homegrown approach at combating the pandemic.

The easing of the lockdown and the opening of the society is the beginning of the necessary changes that we must engage.

No doubt that things are not going to be easy as we go forward, and it is certain that things would not return to how it was in the pre-pandemic era, but we must start planning ahead and take hold of the future.

Our beliefs and plans, as we progress with the easing of the lockdown, must include the very truth that, whether we continue with the lockdown, or begin the gradual easing of the lockdown, the virus will not magically go away soon, except we adopt a practical survival strategy.

Planning ahead requires a realistic and practical remodeling of our approach to our daily engagements and interactions (way of life), as we strive to survive, and continue with our fight against the pandemic. We must be ready to change our ways of doing things and the way we live.

No doubt that the government is now beginning to agree with the Prof that, the approach to fighting and preventing the spread of the disease should not be by a continuous lockdown of the society, and the concomitant destruction of the means of livelihood of the people, but should rather be by a process of opening up the essential sectors of the society, and adopting a ‘learning-by-doing’ process of battling the virus.

The idea is that, when we ease the lockdown and open up the society and allow the majority of our people and farmers who live on their daily earnings to go about irking out their livelihoods as government concentrates on mainstreaming basic commonsense tips of containing and mitigating the spread of the disease, such as:

Promoting practical social distancing tips.

Production and distribution of free hand sanitizers, gloves, and masks, etc.

Mandatory wearing of masks in public by all.

Provision of hand washing facilities in public places.

Adoption of basic hygiene procedures such as, the disinfection of all open markets every early morning, as well as all places of public gatherings before and after use.

Ensuring that all public transport vehicles – taxi, buses, trains, airplanes are disinfected before, and after use, and for all passengers to mandatorily wear face masks and also apply hand sanitizers, before and after, we will certainly be the better for it.

May I also add that, all public office holders as well as those financially endowed persons amongst us, must be encouraged to continue to reach out to the vulnerable amongst us in the interim (in the form of palliatives), just the same way and manner that our quintessential Deputy President of the Senate has done, and has continued to do, to his constitutes in a nonpartisan way – (I must not fail to thank him for his selfless service to the people in this dark moment. God will continue to Bless you sir).

Equally to be added to the above is my advice that the government (Federal, States, and LGAs) must immediately embark on a massive and extensive testing programme, coupled with an efficient and effective contact tracing activities.

While these measures may seem very hectic, and to some pessimists, impracticable (I do not think so), I can assure you that, these may very well be how the future would seem, and may just be the bold step we need to take, to combat this pandemic, as we continue to ease the lockdown.

I agree with Prof when he noted that, “we can only defeat the challenge by confronting it, and not by playing the ostrich only to still confront it the day after”. That of course, is telling us that, we must act now, and not decide to continue to postpone the suffering to a future day. Be rest assured that whether we lockdown the country or open it up in the face of this pandemic, the casualty figures will still increase.

The past cumbersome and continuous lockdown has already stirred up frustration and possible revolt in the minds of the hungry and confused masses, whom were already stealing time out (break the law) to go out to hustle for their means of livelihoods.

The people will definitely be thankful to the government for the easing of the lockdown because, those agents that were enforcing the lock down turned themselves into crooks, and were no better than the person violating the guidelines. They resorted to a massive extortion of the people who dare to go out to look for a means to survive the lockdown. Service providers and sellers all over, also disproportionately increased their prices as well.

The broadcast by the government will now ensure that the society will gradually open up, and there will certainly be a gradual increase of easy access to goods and services which in turn will drive down prices and also remove the extortion.

While the easing of the lock down will also deescalate the build-up of tension amongst the people, it would in a way, also encourage the people to adapt to a new way of their daily engagements and interactions, as they meander their way through this pandemic mine, and design a personal and collective survival road maps.

I should expect the government to extend the easing of the lockdown to our religious places of worship. If marriages and burial rites can be conducted in line with the COVID-19 guidelines – (hand washing, wearing of face masks, and social distancing), I am sure that the religious places if worship can adopt and adapt to same, as a form of the new normal.

The Prof noted, and I completely agree with him that, since everyone wants to live (no one wants to die), Deltans, Nigerians and indeed Africans, will certainly learn and adapt quickly to a new way of doing things.

You won’t dispute the fact (according to Prof) that, “staying at home will therefore become a choice, and not a compulsion”, and that, the new slogan would be, “STAY AT HOME IF YOU CAN , OR SMARTLY GO TO WORK IF YOU MUST”.

Surely, with good education and SMART mobilization, the rate of spread of the disease will drastically be reduced. We therefore do not have to shutdown the means of livelihoods of the people, to achieve that.

Can you, according to Prof, imagine the thousands of jobs to be created by the government in the concomitant increase in the production of face masks, hand gloves, sanitizers, and even the very-possible antiviral drug from our local herbs?

Such socio-economic opportunities will definitely Not happen under this continuous lock down of the country.

In light of the above, and as we are now in the process of easing up the lockdown, would it not be a good idea to exploit our chances of discovering a local cure for this disease, which is very possible, considering our vast reservoir of herbs?

Like the Prof puts it, “necessity is the mother of invention, and only those who dare, succeed”. How would we all retire into the mood of lockdown (including those with the native wherewithal of our traditional and native ‘pharmacognosy/pharmacology), and be waiting for Europe, America, and China to develop a vaccine for the disease, for our government and our rich people to avidly chase after to buy for themselves. Who knows, one of our local herbs might just be the cure that the whole world is looking for, just as it has been reported that Madagascar (a small and well organized country) has successfully made use of a locally prepared drug (from their local herbs), to treat and combat the disease (the Madagascan President was reported to have drank the herbal drug during a live television broadcast).

This was just as ‘Al Jazeera’ news outlet informed us of the excellent feat the people of Senegal, who developed their own brand of Covid-19 Testing machine, at a cost of $60 per machine (the foreign brands sells for $1,600 per machine), which can effectively test a person and produce the results within minutes for as low as $1 per test.

Is this not an example of how a country should look inwards, in times of crisis? Should we not be doing this, instead of waiting for Europe, America and China to supply us with free (Ojofree) testing machines, that may not even function well in our environment.

Don’t you think that my Delta State, and Nigeria, and even the other African countries should go the way of Madagascar and Senegal, because it is becoming increasingly evident that we cannot solely rely on copying and pasting foreign intervention strategies. Our government must therefore start looking inward for the solution and the way forward.

Just my thoughts.