Covid-19: Invisible Food Banks In Delta, Recipe For Upheaval

The extension of the lockdown to curb the spread of the novel covid-19 in Delta State by Governor Okowa was predicted and expected, after President Buhari extended the lockdown in Lagos, FCT and Ogun State. Ironically, the Northern governors did not toe the line of the President. Few hours after the Presidential address, the Northern Governors hurriedly held a meeting using teleconferencing to take a decision for the North, and one of the key decisions is that the North would not lockdown. The decision has equally generated mixed feelings amongst social commentators. For some, the northern governors are treating the pandemic which was described as a matter of life and death by President Buhari with levity; but the methods designed by the Northern Governors to curb the spread of the disease in the region was also commended by social thinkers.

Without exaggeration, the lockdown in Delta has been very effective, but the water tight land border closure envisaged is currently leveraged upon to exhort money from dissents by the police, which is not unconnected to the index case that generated intrigues. The drama that greeted the index case would have been avoided if the government is more transparent in the handling of Covid-19 cases in the state, to conceal the identity of an infested person does not represent a good strategy as contact tracing is aided by openness, and assistance from the public. Partnership with the public would also help those that had contact with an infested person to do the needful, but in Delta, the identity and community of Covid-19 cases are shredded in secrecy, a practice that portends danger, going forward. The British Prime Minister Borris Johnson, Governor Makinde and Bala Muhammad have recovered from the disease, and they are public figures in their own right with some leverage to conceal their medical status. They did not so as not to endanger the lives of others.

Lockdown has proven to be the most effective strategy across the world to check the spread of the invisible enemy. But this is not enforced brutishly in climes where power resides with the people. The civil disobedience that culminated in the death of a young man in Warri would have been avoided if the lockdown was managed with empathy, but life does not matter in Nigeria. A condolence message would be sufficient to pacify the family of any victim of recklessness by the police or military, and the police or military personnel would go scot free if his name is Ahmed, Musa or Addulahhi. The south is a conquered territory.

The Governor’s address was concise but full of uncertainties; he didn’t bore Deltans with rhetoric as this is not a time for lengthy and beautiful speeches, garnished with political correctness. It is not also a time to expect thunderous applause. We are faced with two emergencies- Covid-19 and famine. The former is someway treated seriously, but the viciousness of the latter is treated with levity. While the isolation centres and contact tracing mechanisms have been reported to have been concretely established; there is still nothing on the ground to suggest that the state government is sensitive to the economic hardship associated with the lockdown that was wholesaled from developed climes. To put this in perspective, over 55% of Nigerians rely on the informal sector for survival. From the pure water seller in Enerhen junction to the man that hawks gala in Koka junction, it is the same story. These class of traders in some cases are without seed capital. They buy from the suppliers, hawk and pay back, and this is the daily routine for survival. The man that slumped and died in Warri may be in this class. It is safe to say Delta has recorded three fatalities, one to hunger, one to Covid-19, and one to the recklessness of the military. Two of these fatalities were avoidable.

When the Governor said food banks would be established and palliatives would be distributed transparently using different state and federal wards and with other strategies that have been mapped out, one would begin to picture when this distribution would begin. This is not a good time to be politically correct, hunger is as vicious as the virus. The lack of urgency demonstrated is not only indicative that the sufferings of Deltans have not been sufficiently communicated to the Governor. It also suggests there is a disconnect between the DTHA and the constituents. It is very disturbing that the DTHA has not raised a bill to meet the urgent economic hardship of the people. It is equally disturbing that two weeks into the lockdown, Delta is still waiting for donors to walk into banking halls to make donations to some account numbers to garner funds that would be redistributed to the most vulnerable. How Delta State became a poor state to wait for donors before fund would be released for such purpose, when Governor Nyesom Wike has committed 2 billion naira to cushion the economic effects of the virus in Rivers state is mystery. But one would have expected a wholesale copying of the lockdown approach, in countries where lockdown is religiously implemented, palliatives and food are delivered to the doorstep of the citizenry. The lack of empathy demonstrated where heavily armed military personnel are mobilized to bully harmless citizens to stay at home without commensurate palliatives is a call for civil unrest. But such is still avoidable. Two recommendations should be sufficient. The state government should as a matter of urgency kick start the distribution of palliatives not only to the most vulnerable, but to Deltans. The conceptualization of MOST VULNERABLE is a deliberate attempt to abdicate the economic responsibilities associated with the brutishness demonstrated in this lockdown. The state government should also develop a framework devoid of political considerations to shrug off the claw of party leaders and principalities currently laying ambush to hijack the palliatives. Any attempt to politicize the process would not only make a mockery of it but would trigger protests across towns and cities in the state.