The federal government recently re-introduced restrictions aimed at preventing a spike in the coronavirus in Nigeria.
As a consequence of this growth, the authorities issued travel tips on passengers from India, Brazil and Turkey, where the disease is spreading fast and murdering hundreds of people on daily basis. This is commendable since the authorities acted proactively. Nigerians visit India and Turkey on a regular foundation for trade and medical tourism. They shouldn’t be permitted to travel overseas to treat some diseases only return with other diseases. It is our view that the ban should stay in place whenever the situation improves considerably in those nations. The government should equally not hesitate to expand the ban to other countries where necessary.
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Moreover, it imposed a night curfew and limited gatherings at worship centres and shut down clubs and some other recreational centres. Civil servants on grade level one to 12 have also been requested to quit going to perform. That is coming barely three months when they were recalled to duty following the lockdown that closed nearly the whole world this past year. From the new guidelines, schools are allowed to stay open unlike last year if they were shut down for nearly six months.
The resurgence of the disease this season came because of the comfort of their public health and societal preventive measures all around the world. In Nigeria, many people have ceased wearing a face mask, using hand sanitiser and observing social distancing. The security measures have nearly collapsed in market places, parks, government offices and other company establishments. It’s worthy of note that Nigeria has neither the health care centers nor the manpower to handle a surge in the illness. Additionally, the vaccines aren’t available. The job of staying safe, therefore, rests on taxpayers.
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We’ll love to stress the COVID-19 protocols have to be effectively enforced. It’s not enough to announce the effort must be made to make sure they are complied with. Thus far, not much difference has been noticed as people are still going about their daily activities without detecting the protocols. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) must sensitise people on the need to stay safe. Lessons learnt previously must direct the current. This ought to resume with minimal delay. The government also needs to expedite action on procuring vaccines.
We’ll like to suggest that as a long-term strategy, Nigeria must work towards local production of COVID-19 vaccines. This is essential because as of now nobody can predict the close of the pandemic. Our existing position where we solely depend on imports can’t be permitted to continue. The local production has multiple benefits. It will not just ensure adequate supplies and save the country a lot in foreign market, but it will also prove invaluable whenever Nigeria or even the world is faced with almost any other public health crisis.
It is correct that at the moment there is no laboratory to deal with this job, but it wouldn’t take an eternity to construct one. The most important aspect of the equation is manpower. This shouldn’t pose any problem since Nigeria has scientists to deal with that task. In order to not delay the push towards local vaccine production, the national government should initiate talks between human virologists and their counterparts in the Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, near Jos, where there’s a research lab to begin preliminary work. This will undoubtedly accelerate the procedure. Nigeria cannot manage the situation in India. Consequently, everything possible step must be taken to avoid it.
