Weekend Arena - Nigerians Only See Business In The Coronavirus Pandemic...

Nigeria’s COVID-19 situation reminds one of the old village woman, who loves to dance only when the song is about to end. 

The sudden passing of a number of prominent personalities like Dan Foster, a respected broadcaster, Senator Osinowo, and the rumoured death of Senator Ajimobi (a very unfortunate trend exacerbated by the misuse of social media) amongst others during the week, has rustled some Nigerians to the reality that the virus is real and with us. Those daily figures, from NCDC, which has ultimately come to an unprecedented 745, never sounded convincing to so many Nigerians.


The common belief on the streets is that coronavirus is a scam, a scheme designed by ‘government people to chop money’. Much as this is a confirmation of the low level of confidence the people have in their government and politicians, any discerning mind who follows the news, will know that the whole world cannot be playing a game at the same time; even if Nigeria is wont to this kind of misnomer. But cynics will be quick to say, ‘corona virus was born in China, grew up in Italy, went to school in America and came to Nigeria as a businessman’.

In just one week, a nation that was eagerly looking forward to full reopening of the economy has suddenly realised that danger is far from over, but still lurks around. The planned reopening of churches and mosques in Lagos State has been suspended. The plan to reopen the domestic air space does not look feasible, according the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19. Reopening of schools is also not in sight, even as teachers in the private sector continue to bemoan the situation. It seems the gains, the country earlier made has been eroded, more so with the spiraling figures NCDC has been lately posting, even as the National Orientation Agency (one of the most ineffective agencies in this fight) continues to fold its arms in indifference.



Nigeria obviously lost a lot of grounds to this virus during the first two weeks of the lockdown. What we are seeing as a surge has always been with us and probably came about due to the laxity with which the lockdown has been prosecuted. While interstate movement was banned on paper, people have been travelling to and from all parts of the country. All it costs is money! I am aware that people pay as high as N18,000 for a trip to Owerri from Lagos up from N4,500, bulk of which is collected by the security agents, manning the various interstate boundaries. The rich men are also moving with chartered jets, and it only took the Naira Marley incident at Abuja for us to understand how they are getting permits to make such movements. The implication is the surge in the number of cases we are recording.


That is why many Nigerians believe the entire saga is hot air, lip-service, and ‘business for some people’.

So many things give credence to this unfounded belief though. Take a critical look at the word ‘palliative’ which is associated with the pandemic in Nigeria. While it came from the Federal Government as they contemplated how to cushion the economic effect of the pandemic on the people, the Yahoo Boys, who did not want to be left in the cold, got busy with calls and text messages to vulnerable Nigerians, claiming that they were collating data for the disbursement of palliatives. 

The gullible ones, who saw it as the only opportunity to benefit from Nigeria, parted with their vital bank details and got swindled in the process. I know a woman who lost N600k to scammers while pursuing the imaginary N30k palliative from FG prompted by scammers. Several others would have become ‘maga’ in an attempt to benefit from their government.


Palliatives also became a business for people who executed the contracts of buying and distributing food items on behalf of the government. Of course, if one was not a card-carrying member of the ruling party in the states, he or she cannot come close to such ‘empowerment’ as they call it in Nigeria when politicians want to freely distribute government funds to loyalists.


Perhaps, another interesting group which emerged to reap from this corona episode is the ‘emergency philanthropists’, who see distribution of palliatives as a status symbol. Yes, the Dangotes, Otedolas, Leo Stan Ekehs, Arthur Ezes and a host of other billionaires stood up to be counted in making sure that people weather the corona storm by handing out huge amounts, but some emergency philanthropists soon jumped on the fray with their eyes on showmanship. 

These men were giving one or two packets of noodles and a loaf of bread with so much fanfare. With their camera crew on the ground, waiting to upload photos on the social media, they lured some indigent people to pose for their palliatives, meaning to impress heaven-knows-who.

It got so bad that people were calling their parents in the villages to be mindful of such invitations. You can imagine how one would feel being tagged on Facebook with pictures of his old parents posing with a loaf of bread as palliative!




*Mgbafo you hit the nail on the head..Some are still on with the loud palliatives on instagram sef...
Sme Nigerians have no fear.........May God help us all oh