Written By: CHUKA NNABUIFE

Positive cases of Coronavirus pandemic, codenamed COVID-19 in Nigeria are rising on daily basis. This is sadly happening after the stay-at-home directive of President Muhammadu Buhari in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States. So the stay-at-home directive by government should be upheld as ample opportunity to save mankind from this deadly virus.

The federal government’s stay-at-home order was a measure to stop the spread of the invisible COVID-19 to Nigeria’s hinterland. Several states such as Anambra, Enugu, Rivers, Edo among others took cue from the federal government and issued directives to control public movements, crowded events, enforce hygiene and ensure safety in their domains. The idea is to guard against the importation of COVID-19 into interior states.

Given the massive death toll being recorded around the world daily, even in countries with highly sophisticated healthcare system, Nigerian governments reasoned that if COVID-19 is allowed to come into Nigeria’s hinterland, the resultant casualty would be disastrous. Consequently, they took the lockdown decision as last resort, simply to save lives before anything else.

Frantic efforts were made to daily sensitize the citizens on the COVID-19 plague; emergency hospitals were built to serve as prevention and protection centres; Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) were acquired; funds are being mobilized from public and private sector donors; while radical social actions are being enforced to prevent communication of the disease from those who would have contracted it elsewhere to their citizens and distribute. All these are to stop the spread of COVID-19 into the hinterland, because the disease has no cure and if it gets into the interiors it could cause mass deaths.

More so, by its nature, the plague is better not allowed at all because one person with it can transfer it to a whole community and a whole state. Worse, a carrier of the disease may not be aware of his or her health status until 14 days. By then, he would have passed it on to his family, friends, street, community and more.

Unfortunately, the disease has continued to spread. More states have recorded cases outside FCT, Lagos and Ogun. The rate of rise is worrisome. Experts mostly, blame the failure of citizens to heed to the stay-at-home directives of governments.

Sadly, some disgruntled Nigerians saw in the COVID-19 fight, an opportunity to manipulate or extort the populace and the system. While some embarked on a campaign of tarnish or blackmail of the state, others stirred sentiments of all manner from ethnic to religious and class biases to let the people break the lockdown rule. Some law enforcement agents saw in it opportunities to fleece the people and hike their pockets.

At the end, all manner of people are now on the street despite the fact that the stay-at-home order specifically spell out who should be. Even as the directive still stands, the people who it is meant to protect have abused it.

From all corners of the country everybody now yell that hunger is killing him or her, and that the lockdown is one hell or inferno; fraudsters and protagonists of one unclear cause or the other push out diversionary messages to gain the system.

One looks at the street and weeps. Worse, the terror is real and here we are because of some people’s headiness. Worthy of note is this excerpt from Mr President’s speech of Sunday: “The irresponsibility of the few can lead to the death of many.”

We shall blame our collective headiness, if the situation worsens, not the governments who acted the way they should, when a situation calls for hard decision to make between death and hard times.

Indeed, the lockdown comes with hard times, including hunger and loneliness, but none of these compares to death. A spread of COVID-19 means death sentence to the masses. In the words of Mr. President: “We cannot afford to be lax”; no, not with this death starring everybody on the face.

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