BETWEEN DEATH BY COVID-19 AND DEATH BY HUNGER

Tossing the coin will not be of much use because the head or tail, the choice, and consequences are grim and dire enough.  Recent human history has not recorded anything this catastrophic like this wholesale death across the globe.  Chinua Achebe, the literary icon of blessed memory would have had the tragedy of coronavirus in mind when he stated in his classical work, ‘Things Fall Apart’ that, “What the ‘Nte’ trap has caught is bigger than the ‘Nte’”.   Whichever way, men must die; death by Covid-19 is real just as death by hunger is real enough too.  With high hopes and great expectations now dashed especially for those who engage in the arcane ritual of new year resolution, the year 2020 will go down in history as the year of the great plague and pandemic of Covid-19 or corona virus.

The harvest of death by Covid-19 is frightening in its sheer number.  It compares only to dropping of a weapon of mass destruction on a population such as biological or nuclear bomb; death will be so common place that there will be no one to bury the other.  Death by hunger is also agonizing because it is a slow painful death and worse still, you may be face to face with loved ones also agonising for a bite but there is no food to eat.

Businesses are shut down and offices closed while the proverbial ordinary man on the street has been forced out of his sanctum, no thanks to Corona virus and government lockdown to stem the spread.  Life has become indeed so depressing that one would brace up for the worst and ignore the angel of death borne on the wings of Covid-19 to go and look for what to eat.

We should have come to terms by now that the lockdown and social distancing regulations are the most effective safety remedial measures and imperative to curtail community to community spread of the corona virus until a cure or vaccine is found.

It is a bitter pill that we may have to accept and swallow but the major concern is how far a depressed subsistence economy can sustain the lockdown strategy without a boomerang where a bulk of the population is in the informal sector and eke out a living on daily basis.

Where is the palliative going to come from to sustain the vulnerable section of the population?  Does the country have a strategic reserve to cater for the basic necessities of life for the ordinary citizens?   How do you determine the vulnerable people and the demographic spread where there is no verifiable database and statistics?  We have no accurate records of births and deaths and our census figures in relation to our population is still a matter of official speculations for political consideration without resemblance to reality.

No doubt, lockdown, and social distancing appears the most appropriate methods for curbing the spread of Covid-19 but it is not so clear how much longer we can sustain it due to the socio-economic variables of the population where most people have no savings or any income at all.

Of course, one cannot but recognize the appreciable efforts of both government at the centre and the state governments within the available resources.  Even at that, the palliative may never be enough that is, were it to be evenly, fairly and equitably deployed.  For a subsistence economy like Nigeria, lockdown is not a sustainable way to manage the scourge and spread of corona virus giving our circumstances without risking a civil disobedience.   Shutting citizens away from their businesses without income in a prolonged lockdown is a recipe for disaster because the battles at the two fronts are extreme.

However, one favours social distancing to appear a more sustainable option and strategy so that people can engage in limited chores to earn a living.   It is about time we begin to interrogate this whole thing called palliative that government is giving to the so-called vulnerable section of the population that appears amorphous. We should stop ridiculing ourselves by engaging in this primitive way where government officials carry sacks of currency notes and be distributing to hapless Nigerians. It is a shame that in this 21st Century, our government officials will be going from one village and community to another, line people up in queue and be counting money and giving citizens like mendicants; this is not good enough image for us and unacceptable.

Even with the government handouts and pittance wherever there is window for replenishment of basic supplies, the reality is that there are few food items to buy in the market with hyper-inflation and factories are producing minimally having reduced their workforce to maintain the rule of social distancing in work place.  We are talking about an economy that is cash and carry without production and huge unemployment and poverty.

Someday, Nigerians have to demand account of stewardship from their leaders because no matter how long the night is, day light will come.  Even in death, some of them will have to pay just like the maximum ruler, late General Sani Abacha who is ‘funding’ projects from the grave out of his loots.  This was something unimaginable and no one ever thought was possible in Nigeria before now.

Even with the best of intentions, the planned palliatives by the federal government to the urban poor to mitigate the lockdown extension in their conditional cash transfer (CCT) is fraught with obvious barriers and susceptible to political manipulation and fraud as people are already insinuating.  Most of the urban poor known to me do not have bank accounts and therefore no Bank Verification Number (BVN) that can be accessed by the committee.  The bulk of the urban poor include the women selling ‘okpa’ and ‘akara’ (bean cake) at street corners and bus stop who are the bread winners of the family.  They are those roasting corn, hawking pure (sachet) water, water vendors supplying to households as most people do not have running water, vulcanizers and those at traffic chasing vehicles to ply their trade.

Countries with social welfare system have bio-data of citizens and know those who qualify for unemployment benefit and other social interventions.  If one may ask, where did the government committee generate the record or data it is using?  We should stop the tokenism and media show and get serious with the business of governance.  We will appreciate the situation we are in better if we recognize the fact that poverty and lack do not start and stop with the urban poor; most Nigerians are poor including those in government employ. While one would appreciate efforts of the government at least in recognizing the fact that people are indeed in genuine needs, the fight of the coronavirus should be well-calibrated to ensure that a workable method of social interaction should be devised and not just decree total lockdown as a cure-all remedy for Covid-19.  The popular opinion appears to favor social distancing as against lockdown; so, let social distancing have it!

Kebonkwu Esq writes from Abuja.