Segun Ayobolu

It is in my view the most assured and accomplished speech he has given since assumption of office particularly in terms of composure and delivery. I refer to President Muhammadu Buhari’s address to the nation last Sunday, March 29, on the ravaging coronavirus pandemic. True, the administration has received hard knocks from several quarters on the perceived needless delay by the President in speaking to Nigerians especially given the severity of the global crisis and the grave implications it has for the lives of Nigerians and the national economy. Yet, the President’s address shows that there had really been minimal vacuum in the response to the crisis and that the requisite officials at various levels had indeed been up and doing.

The President’s speech calmly stipulated all that had been done by the administration to contain the crisis while also reeling out new economic and social policies to strengthen the country’s response to what has become a herculean challenge to humanity. It was important that the speech did not hit the panic button, deepen public anxiety and create the impression that the nation is being overwhelmed by a crisis it has little or no capacity to contain.

Before the President’s address, the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, has briefed the nation daily on the latest statistics as regards new cases, deaths and recoveries as well as new policy measures designed to meet the challenge. The Minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has been particularly impressive, effective and authoritative in demonstrating that he is on top of his job.

The same goes for the Director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ikweazu, although there continue to be complaints that staff of the agency are not responding as promptly as desired to enquiries being made by members of the public on the dedicated lines provided. This is a weakness that must be urgently addressed.

On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance and particularly the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the proactive, interventionist measures of its leadership, has announced various policies to cushion the shock on key sectors of the economy as well as enable critical sectors like the pharmaceutical industry, for instance, rise to the challenge of the moment.

In his address, President Buhari announced measures to sustain and intensify such social intervention programmes as   TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni; immediately pay to the most vulnerable members of society due conditional cash transfers for the next two months; provide two months of food rations to Internally Displaced Persons as well as keep the school feeding programme going even as schools across the country have been forced to close.

While these steps will bring succor to a sizable number of the vulnerable, many Nigerians hope that the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), will come up with even more measures to reach a larger number of Nigerians particularly in the areas most affected by the pandemic. The Buhari administration has been criticized for what is perceived in some quarters as its slow response to the crisis. It appears that the administration was hesitant to adopt more severe response strategies such as total lockdown of whole segments of the population earlier on because it realizes the peculiar character of the country’s economy.

Unlike the advanced industrialized countries, the greater number of Nigeria’s citizens operate in the informal sector of the economy. Consequently they live on what they earn on a daily basis and the consequences of a total lockdown could be devastating for millions of households. Moreover, even before the intrusion of the coronavirus, the economy had already taken a bad hit as a result of the sharp fall in the international price of oil attendant on the trade rivalry between Russia and Saudi Arabia with deleterious consequences for the 2020 budget.

It is instructive that even far more advanced countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Italy, for instance, also underestimated the potential dangers of the virus spreading and are perceived to have adopted stringent containment measures late in the day with grave consequences. We can only thank God that the extent and impact of the viral spread in Nigeria, at least so far, has been comparatively milder than these other less lucky countries. The challenge is to keep it so especially given the fragility of our healthcare system.

Given the huge disproportion in resource availability, quality of healthcare infrastructure and services as well as economic capacity between Nigeria and these hard hit advanced countries, the country’s response to this crisis, comparatively, has been laudable even though we must now learn from past lapses and immediately begin to build a qualitative, efficient and effective healthcare system for the future.

Even autonomous of actions taken at the centre by the Federal Government, it is noteworthy that many state governors have decisively and commendably responded to the coronavirus pandemic taking steps not only to contain the spread but also to succor the poor and vulnerable within the limits of their respective financial capacities.

The most outstanding in this regard is obviously the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, whose inspiring example as the Chief-Incident-Commander, as well as that of his cerebral, hardworking and unassuming health commissioner, Professor Akinola Abayomi, have inspired other commissioners and heads of agencies in the state to give of their best in tackling the invisible enemy. We shall in due course look in more detail at the lessons to be learnt from the Lagos example.

It is ironical that most of those who protest most vehemently against Nigeria’s undoubtedly over-centralized federal structure and advocate a radical restructuring as the be all and end all cure to Nigeria’s crises of economy, politics and governance, are quiet about the laudable responses of many sub-national units of government, acting relatively independent of the centre, to the coronavirus crisis.

On the other hand, in the United States, which is frequently held up as practicing the federal ideal to which we must aspire, most state governors have been desperately crying out for federal government financial and logistical support to enable them navigate the turbulent waters of the pandemic. So Nigeria is not the only much derided ‘feeding bottle’ federalism? True, there is the urgent need to deepen the practice of federalism in Nigeria but no less imperative is the necessity to moderate some of our rather romantic assumptions about federalism and restructuring.

Many Nigerians have expressed justifiable anger at the venality, crass irresponsibility and sheer hardheartedness of our leadership and socio-economic elite over the years. Their pervasive massive corruption has denied the country of the requisite modern and well equipped health facilities that could easily have been provided given Nigeria’s abundant resource endowment. Our elite are widely derided by the majority of Nigerians for habitually hopping out of the country to receive medical attention in the best health facilities abroad and leaving their helpless country men and women to make do with the ramshackle health facilities and poorly motivated personnel at home.

This to me is not a productive or useful conversation to engage in right now. The important thing is that the current global coronavirus pandemic, which has shut down global travel, demonstrates that ultimately we are all – elite and masses – in the same boat.

While we hope that the country’s leadership will wake up to the need to provide the people with modern, well equipped health facilities as well as properly compensated and motivated healthcare personnel even in their own self-interest, it is no less important that Nigerians begin to refuse to sell their votes during elections or to prioritize ethnic, regional or religious considerations over character and competence in casting their votes.

The consequences of voting motivated by ‘stomach infrastructure’, leading to the emergence of corrupt and inept leaders, can be more devastating than the coronavirus.

Between Garba Shehu and Wole Soyinka

What really did one of President Buhari’s media aides, Mallam Garba Shehu, think he was doing by responding in such an arrogant and insulting manner to Professor Wole Soyinka’s views on the President’s lockdown order on Lagos and Ogun states to stem the spread of the coronavirus? The Nobel Laureate had questioned the legality of the President’s directive and insisted that even in emergencies political power must be exercised in accordance with stipulated constitutional provisions. Surely, he has a right to his view, which incidentally was also the opinion of some eminent legal minds.

By mocking Soyinka as a writer of fiction who should not be taken seriously, Shehu Garba essentially mocks himself and demonstrates shallow understanding of the intimate affinity between fiction and life. For across time and space, fiction has played a critical role in positively affecting and improving human reality. So a functionary so high up in the presidency does not appreciate the significance of literature? This does little credit to the image of the administration.