The political economy of COVID-19

By E.T Okere

I was close to tears last Sunday night as I listened to President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast to the nation. This is a fellow whose handlers had allowed all sorts of insinuations concerning his government’s and, indeed, his personal approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such was the level of exasperation Nigerians were suffering over the apparent inertia shown by the president in personally addressing the nation on the matter. Yes, health ministry officials, particularly the minister of health, were always on television screen giving one explanation or the other but Nigerians kept asking: where is our president. Matters took a turn for the worse when the president’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, tested positive to the corona virus. And pronto, the refrain was: “The president has corona virus”. Many swore that it would be impossible for Kyari who sees President Buhari every hour, could test positive and the president himself did not. Even when reports later came that President Buhari had tested negative, the scepticism persisted, with some saying that both Buhari and Kyari had been flown abroad for treatment. On Saturday, March 29, that is a day before the presidential broadcast, a news report in the social media had it that a Nigerian presidential jet was sighted in Dubai!

Matters were not helped when earlier, one of the president’s top aides, Femi Adesina, went to town to say that it was in the president’s “style” to address the people. That statement further confounded Nigerians. Agreed, President Buhari can be characterized as reticent but we know that he had addressed Nigerians on several occasions on matters of national importance. So, the question many Nigerians were asking Adesina was: Since when? Since when did it become President Buhari’s “style” not to speak to Nigerians. To ward off the barrage of attacks over his claim, Adesina posted a photograph showing him and the president together in the social media. But even so, many dismissed the photograph as one taken much earlier.

I am sure I was not the only Nigerian who must have been moved to tears seeing the president on television last Sunday night. It not only proved that our president is not suffering the corona virus, it also showed that, contrary to what many insinuated, the Nigerian seat of government has not been abandoned by those who were elected to man it.  The broadcast itself was for me one of the best to come from President Buhari since he came to office six years ago. He took charge of the situation and give quite unambiguous directives, especially the closure of all business and offices and total restriction of movements in Lagos, the federal capital territory and Ogun State. But to show how well popular the president’s broadcast was, many business owners in other parts of the country – outside Lagos, Ogun and the FCT – voluntarily closed shop the following day, Monday, March 30. Many of them might not have been aware that the president’s directive was only for those three areas but it is significant that some citizens were, rightly or wrongly, reacting to a directive by their president.

Witness the following soothing passage in the presidential speech: “… We must all see this as our national and patriotic duty to control and contain the spread of this virus. I will therefore ask all of us affected by this order to put aside our personal comfort to safeguard ourselves and fellow human beings. This common enemy can only be controlled if we all come together and obey scientific and medical advice”.

We can then contrast this with the rather combative language with which most state governors couched their own directives to their citizens on the need to take safety measures. While some of the governors tend to see the situation as an opportunity to show their opponents that they are in charge, others tend to insinuate that opposition elements in their states would instigate the people not to abide by the government directives. That is a clear blackmail on the people themselves.

Beyond this intra state politics on COVID-19, methinks that the way the various state governments were closing “borders” with neighbouring states was not altogether sensitive to the interest of the people. In most of the cases, travellers were taken completely unawares, resulting in untold hardship. In some states, governors decided to completely shut down all activities even where there are yet to be reported cases of infection. Agreed, Nigerians are generally ‘lawless’ but I believe that this is the time for our leaders to show they can galvanise the people for positive actions. Yes, the situation is drastic and requires drastic measures but care must be taken in order not to drag it into a “we-versus-them” affair.

Take Anambra state where the government closed the Niger Bridge in order to avoid a situation where vehicles pile up on top of the bridge and in effect subject it to severe pressure. That was a brilliant thing to do but it is wrong to just close the bridge and leave travellers, who have already arrived at the foot of the bridge, completely stranded. Some of them might have had their final destinations as close as Onitsha town itself. In other words, the state government should have gone an extra mile to see how vehicles could cross the bridge without subjecting it to danger.

It requires only for the state officials to put themselves in the shoes of the stranded travellers. In any case, stranded and desperate passengers who unconsciously crowd themselves together would no longer be able to practice social distancing, believed to be the most effective way of containing the spread of the virus and the very reason why movement of persons are restricted. Yes, the people should obey government directives but the government itself should not be seen as panicky.

The danger inherent in the failure of state governments in particular to galvanise the people in the fight against COVID-19 is the resort to self-help by the people. With the situation appearing to be that of every one to him or herself, the people will look for the best way to survive. In our clime, this “best” way has always been for people to hike the prices of goods and services they offer. Already, prices of essential food items have quadrupled in most parts of the country. In parts of the Southeast, a “paint” of garri that sold for N500.00 only last week, now sells for close to N2000.00, even though the profiteering traders are selling from old stocks. The situation is most unlikely to improve, that is, will get worse.

I returned to the president’s broadcast. As already noted, Nigerians were elated to hear from him but after the broadcast, some questions cropped. For example, if schools are closed, what is the need sustaining the school feeding programme during this period? Similarly, his directive concerning repayment for Trader Moni, Market Moni and Farmer Moni is rather inappropriate. Said the president: “… I have directed that a three-month repayment moratorium for all Trader Moni, Market Moni and Farmer Moni loans be implemented with immediate effect”.  I think the president did not need to go into such details. Such details should have been left for the monetary authorities to give. It would have been simply sufficient to state, as he did that “I have also directed that similar moratorium be given to all federal government founded loans issued by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Nigeria Export Import Bank”, since Trader Moni, Famers Moni and Market Moni all fall under “federal government funded loans”.