THE poor management of the coronavirus disease in Kano State is the clearest example of the confusion that has overtaken the fight against the disease
in Nigeria. There are indications that almost as soon as the disease, otherwise called COVID-19, berthed in the country, it quickly progressed to community transmission.
And while it has seemed to work hard to curb the disease, its effort has been too little, too late and barely effective. In some northern states, the crisis has become truly gargantuan. Some of the governors are hysterical , others are living in outright denial , and others are simply somnolent . It needed to treat the health crisis confronting it seriously, particularly the many deaths experienced in its cities, instead the state has petulantly described the deaths as strange, excoriated those who say the state got its diagnosis wrong, and has for weeks incredibly been unable to find the cause of the problem.
It is true the PTF and NCDC have stepped up their interventions in the state, but the figures of infections and deaths dished out by the government about the Kano coronavirus crisis seem to reflect collusion and deliberate attempt to underplay the problem. But there is a social side to the pandemic, a religious side, and more importantly, and economic side. It is not within the purview of the NCDC to find solutions to all the other spinoffs of the disease.
There are after all no constitutional limits to how many times he can appoint a chief of staff. So far, a quaint feeling pervades the country that no one is really in control. No? Well, then, let the president prove the country wrong. Nor is anyone asking the presidency to ignore the peculiarities of individual states. In fact the first set of lockdowns inflicted on Lagos, Ogun and FCT were misconceived. So, too, is the one slammed on Kano, which is sadly being executed desultorily.
More scandalously, both the PTF and the NCDC have threatened to recommend another round of lockdown if Nigerians do not adhere strictly to the rules and regulations governing the easing of the lockdown. Nonsense. If there was a central figure anchoring the COVID-19 war, and if he is intelligent enough to weigh all the options and factors involved in the war, he would recognise that a balance must be created between the measures and the economy because in the final analysis, hunger will spur disobedience, no matter how foolishly analysts compare war situations to COVID-19.
If a few thousands of tests were carried out during the first lockdown, and testing is one of the most powerful tools of fighting the disease, what does the government hope to do with a second lockdown without a corresponding significant increase in testing? Reagents are needed, so too are test kits.
What has Nigeria done? Are tests in these parts infallible? What of the cures? How many have their scientists suggested, especially in light of higher death figures per population of infected people? The threat of re-imposing lockdown or hinging its extension, as Ogun has just done for another week, must not be deployed as punishment for civil disobedience. Ogun State even suggested that lifting or extending the lockdown was in the hands of the people, not the government.
Even without lockdowns, there is little to suggest that the country can successfully navigate around the coming turbulence. Current attitude to lockdown, in the face of lethargic execution of other equally appropriate measures, is courting unmanageable trouble.
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