Changes wrought by the pandemic

I was away in Dubai in early March this year, when the coronavirus epidemic was upgraded to pandemic.

I watched the announcement on live television delivered by none other than Tedros Adhanom, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) himself. Like many of those who watched the announcement, it was with bemused understanding, not fully realising that in a matter of days the world as we knew it would be turned upside down. Out in the streets, in the city you could only find a few with masks on and even the grocery shops where one went for daily needs did not impose wearing of masks and cleansing of hands.

But this was all to change in a few days. Wearing of masks became immediately mandatory in the country. Everyone spotted a mask. Markets, shops and restaurants demanded it. It became a must apparel in taxis and trains. Probably acting on some covert instructions hotels and apartments immediately started giving deadline notices to occupants to vacate and leave. By mid-March when we headed to the airport to return home we began to see the effect of the pandemic. The airport that used to be one of the busiest in the world was then very much a shadow of itself. Even in the afternoon peaks one could see that human traffic had lamentably thinned down to a trickle. The Emirate Airline plane that brought us to Abuja was less than half-filled, letting many of us ample seats opportunity for a lie-down during the flight.

On arrival in Abuja, it was immediately apparent that the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport was also coming to grips with the new pandemic requirements. However, bristling with past experience of Ebola and Lassa fever epidemics some of our airports were already equipped with the machines to detect and isolate affected passengers. Homecoming airport procedures were understandably more cumbersome with fresh forms to fill and process. And as one got into Abuja, one realised that life was still as we left it some days ago. But it looked like we were laidback on dealing with the pandemic. People were blissfully unaware of its consequences. Hardly anyone wore a mask and generally life was just as hectic as we left it.

Many days that could have been opportunities for taking timely crucial decisions passed us by. The corona cases started mounting and the lockdown was finally issued initially to FCT, Lagos and Ogun states, restricting movements only at certain times of the day and for only essential supplies. For us living in the FCT, life took a real tumble obliterating all the usual and normal. Offices, industries, markets, places of worship all came under lock. In the Wuse part of Abuja where I live, generally known to be lively round the clock, everything fell into complete silence.

Days of lockdown went by, coronavirus cases kept mounting hitting the high and low alike without discrimination. Nevertheless, despite initial tardiness in the preparations by the government we were spared the heavy tolls suffered by other countries, particularly those in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Nobody yet can put a hand on it why we are spared. Some say it is our hot climate, others claim that our malaria-infested bodies have made many of us immune. But we have not escaped the losses and they are still increasing though still not as rapidly as in other affected countries. The lockdown couldn’t go on endlessly. People have lives to lead and they have to produce. This would not be possible under a lockdown. Thus following in the footsteps of those countries that were ahead in the lockdown programme and had decided to unlock, our own government relented too. Ultimately, the government decided to release us gradually to go about our affairs though with the proviso of mask wearing, social distancing and cleansing of hands.

The pandemic has made sweeping changes to our lives and the period of lockdown has hopefully given us a period of quiet introspection to reflect on our deficiencies and how to upgrade them. Other countries have even gone beyond the human needs in their societies. I understand that in Germany, dog owners will soon be ordered by law to walk their pets twice a day, for at least an hour on each occasion. As widely reported, the country’s agriculture minister, Julia Klöckner, has said she is introducing the new law based on evidence that many of the nation’s 9.4 million dogs are not getting the exercise or stimuli they need.

Here, we are constrained to focus on our human needs particularly education and health. Millions of our children in public schools and other tertiary institutions are still in doldrums on what to expect in relation to their school year. A tiny minority lost nothing because their private institutions were able to reach them through zoom and other platforms. The pandemic also exposed the holes in our health system. Massive investments rolled over many years will be needed to fix them.

It doesn’t look like the pandemic is going anywhere in due course. We look up to our elected leaders to deal with its repercussions.