A ramble in the middle of a global pandemic

I have been following the Coronavirus outbreak since when it first emerged in China. A slowly increasing number of the podcasts I listened to kept talking about it. Initially, the main focus was on how it affected the global supply chain, some also used it as an opportunity to discuss/contrast how authoritarian the Chinese government is yada yada. There were some discussions on how it could it affect the global communities but it wasn’t a particular priority.

I listened and watched closely. Watched how it spreads across the world and how it is affecting trends and daily life everywhere. I got more worried everyday.

I remember telling my wife not to come home for a few hours because I was coughing nonstop and wanted to be sure it’s not anything — it wasn’t I had food stuck in my throat 🤦‍♀️.

I remember said wife and friends laughing at my “paranoia” and insistence on washing hands and bathing whenever we went out 🤷‍♀️.

This was when Nigeria had 1–3 cases, when it seemed we had lucked out and evaded the worst of the virus.

However, even though I was being cautious, I mainly assumed+hoped it was just another scare which would pass.

That seems pretty unlikely right now.

Last night, Nigeria reported it has hit 111 confirmed cases with one death reported so far.

That’s not much, right? Not for a country with a population of ~200 million.

Then, you realize this is in a country where students in some schools are taking lectures while seated on the floor. A country where years of neglect, corruption and indifferent leaders has led to decayed infrastructure. Where probably everyone has or knows a personal horror story of the hospital system.

A lot of us Nigerians probably see this pandemic as laughable, poetic justice maybe even God sent to wipe out our old corrupt leaders. After all, isn’t it absurd when a former Vice President for 8 years takes to social media to ask for prayers for his infected son? A lot of us joke around and think — “all these politicians that like traveling abroad for all their medical needs instead of actually investing in the health sector, they have no where to run to now. We are all in this together.”

Maybe they have a point.

But, the problem is that those “elite” won’t feel the pain as much. They probably (definitely) have the clout & resources to have dedicated medical personnel for each of them if they do fall sick.

What about the rest of us?

I grew up in neighborhoods where >3/5 people living in a small room and 10 rooms sharing a single toilet were the norm. Having a sitting/living room was an exception not the norm. Having a toilet just for your room was completely decadent.

Do you think people in those areas could successfully do “social distancing”. In the many slums of Lagos, how fast do you think this virus would spread?

But let’s say they get lucky and the virus doesn’t get to places like this. No one in the Mushins, Oriles, Ajegunles, Makoko etc get infected. Or maybe, they get infected and are isolated extremely quickly before they infect any other person (which is stretching our allocated luck quite a lot considering the initially asymptomatic nature of the disease)

But let’s say we get that lucky. Hurray, case closed? Nope, not by a long shot

The main technique to control this disease has been through “social distancing”. This basically in a lot of ways involves “shutting down” the economy — a lot of businesses need to be shut to reduce movement. For a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck, this is extremely worrying. A number would lose their jobs. Traders that are selling things would lose their perishable goods.

The very system that should support all this is pretty broken.

One of the best documented systems supporting this collapse is the United States which has a 2 trillion (with a t) dollars plan to help Americans weather this.

To the best of my knowledge, Nigeria doesn’t have a functional unemployment benefits system to support those people. Credit systems that exists — the Carbon, Renmoney etc — are quite exploitative by default with high interest rates which means even those that qualify for them are going to be in debt for a long period of time. The government has no easy credit system that allows a common man access 20,000 naira to get something to eat. They are also not bothered enough to regulate the existing credit facilities to make sure they aren’t choking the common man.

Let me skip past the drama of what the oil price slash means for a country that is primarily dependent on oil for it’s revenue.

(BTW, special shoutout to Russia, Saudi Arabia and co — good job exacerbating the current economic crisis with your squabbles over oil. Exactly what the world needs at this time👏🏾. Very good job 😒)

Even day to day living during this pandemic would be hard for most during this lockdown. Home deliveries of groceries are not common and mainly geared to upper class income earners. They are just feasible for most.

Luckily, charities and the government are coming up with food banks and ways to help people around. Transportation is however a problem to this. If you don’t have a car/motorcycle/bicycle, you may not even be lucky enough to get access to these opportunities

Nigeria and the world would be okay though.

There may be lots of suffering ahead but Nigerians are extremely resilient people and we seem to have perfected the formula for suffering and smiling. Plus, the miracle

I wish the government put as much energy & resources into controlling as Nigeria Twitter+Instagram is using to come up with memes & jokes about this 😆

Long story short. This is going to be a long thing but we are going to be okay as per Nigerians.

Calm down.

Chop amala/akpu/tuwo and focus on the things you can control.

Help each other wherever you can.

Please remain safe out there.

Wash your hands.

Smile. Wa wa alright.