Segun Gbadegesin
There is no shred of doubt that COVID-19 is a terrible scourge. For the faithful, it is a reminder of God’s omnipotence and an incontrovertible pointer to the second coming of the Lord. We are therefore counselled to wisely take care of our spiritual business in preparation to meet our God.
To the philosopher, it is a powerful evidence of the meaninglessness of it all. Two months ago, the world was riding the wave of economic boom. Today, everything is in tatters without an end in sight. So, what’s the point of our hustling and bustling when what it takes for it all to go to blaze is for an invisible viral agent to show up?
Between the faithful and the philosophical, there is a convergence of frustration in the pointlessness of our earthly struggles, though they end up with different solutions. For the faithful, the answer to life’s meaninglessness is to ignore the material world and embrace the spiritual because what is certain is the imminence of judgment after death. We will meet our creator.
For the philosopher, like in everything else, the answer is as varied as their number. For some, the meaningless of life simply confirms the absurdity of any choices that we make. For others, even if it turns out that life has no meaning, this doesn’t have any practical consequences, and it doesn’t change the need to keep our commitments. After all, we continue to live our lives as if nothing is amiss. Recall Marx’s verdict on philosophy?
Let us, however, look at life from the perspective of tradition. For, as disastrous as this virus is proving to be, like everything else we learn from the Yoruba and African worldview, tibi tire la da le aye: for every negative there is always a positive. From the negativity of this pandemic, there are many useful lessons to learn.
First, in times of crisis and social dislocation, leadership matters and if it takes a crisis of this magnitude to throw up national heroes and sheroes and help us appreciate them, so be it. Think Ebola, Adadevoh, and Fashola. Now, think Sanwoolu and Abayomi and Ihekweasu. We have leadership assets. Hopefully, we are worthy of their dedication.
Second, Covid-19 is a leveler—an equal opportunity assailant that doesn’t respect title or status. It afflicts the powerful and the weak. Thus, Prince Charles, PM Boris Johnson, COS Aba Kyari, Gov. Nasir El-Rufai, Gov. Seyi Makinde, etc. It is not about what you eat or doesn’t eat. It is not about the gym you frequent. It doesn’t target the poor on account of their uninformed choices. It is not about your level of education. Of course, we must acknowledge the reality that the rich and powerful may have easier access to testing than the poor.
It is true, however, that this virus also ridicules wealth in a special way which may be of consolation to the poor and unconnected. Wealth appears useless when you cannot leverage it to access special treatment against the virus. A recent viral video by a comedian brings home this point with wicked humor: Coro ti se won mole (Coronavirus has restricted them here). There’s no jetting abroad for treatment. UK is closed to imported cases of Covid-19. US closed its borders. So did Germany, our most convenient getaways for medical treatment. Therefore, we are here together; no escape from the fury of an invisible killer.
Third, this means that foresightedness in pandemic planning matters. If we planned ahead with laser beam focus on primary healthcare, specialist hospital beds, physician protective equipment (PPE), N95 masks, investment in public health research, we would be ready now to combat this deadly virus. But did we? The military wasted resources on white-elephant projects for more than 20 years. Even when the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti spearheaded Primary Health Care as our best bet to promoting public health, it was like the voice of one man crying in the wilderness. If we listened to the voice of wisdom and knowledge then, we would have adequate facilities all over our local governments now. But we didn’t.
Fourth, it matters how we rationalize our national priorities. Civilians took over from the military 21 years ago. Babies born in May 1999 are adults now. So they have known only civilians in government. But what has been their experience? They are the ones leading civil protests against the excesses of SARS now. They are disillusioned about what the future holds for them. They are worried about our budget priorities.
If we paid attention to the adequate rationalization of our budget priorities, we would now be reaping the fruit of good planning. But while scores of millions of our people have no access to potable water supply, and dispensaries and maternity centers are closed down across the nation, NASS priorities include a N37 billion renovation of its building and exotic cars for its members, even in the middle of a terrible pandemic. No wonder young Nigerians keep asking: who cursed us? Good question, indeed!
Fifth, shared sacrifice is essential and this is the right time. Even now, with all the urgency that is required, with the shortcomings of our budgetary allocations, we can still wage this war against the virus with shared sacrifice that sees this war as the most urgent task even as we fight the other wars. For if we lose the battle to COVID-19, we will have no one to fight the other wars, including the war against insurgency and the war for economic prosperity. Therefore, the beginning of national wisdom is a national commitment that recognizes the dreaded virus for what it is.
Sixth, in view of the experience of other nations that are going through this crisis, we know that the worst is yet to come. Therefore, we must brace ourselves for the troubling days and months ahead. This means that the president must lead from the front. As the father of the nation, he must constantly seek to calm our restive nerves with soothing words. He has rightly delegated responsibility for national action to the experts. But from time to time, the nation needs to hear from its father so it doesn’t feel abandoned to its fate.
The president has the goodwill of other leaders and he is in a position to leverage his friendship with them. We chose not to close our borders to China when other nations did. It was a good decision. Now our good turn deserves a payback. We need to ask China for help. China has tangible experience dealing with the virus. It deployed thousands of doctors to Wuhan region at the peak of the pandemic and those doctors succeeded in bringing Wuhan back from complete annihilation. Now, they are back in their various locations with that experience. We can learn from them if the president would reach out to President Xi Jinping. This is the time for that exchange when we are still far from the implosion that is sure to come.
Seventh, COVID-19 must be credited for bringing out the worst and the best of our humanity. First to the worst. With the first cases of the contagion reported, state governments and the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) promptly rose to the occasion by issuing instructions and guidelines on self-isolation for the exposed and social distancing for everyone else. Unfortunately, pluralities of citizens chose defiance over compliance. Political parties held rallies and preachers assembled their members in thousands, all for their selfish interests. Now, we are seeing the fruits of those irresponsible behaviors germinating in real time. It is hoped that a strict enforcement of the new presidential order will stem the tide of explosion of infection.
Finally, we must appreciate the individual philanthropic gestures in support of the battle—from political leaders, including Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, NASS members and Ministers, to NNPC, oil, banking, and communication sectors’ giants such as Chief Adenuga, The Alakijas, Elumelu’s UBA, Access Bank and Dangote, Samad Rabiu’s BUA, Union Bank with 54Gene, First Bank, and others. Given this public solidarity with national resolve, COVID-19 is a goner!
