At the start of this global pandemic that has now mutated to the Omicron variant I vowed not to call the corona virus by its name in order not to give it undue publicity in the hope that it will soon go away . My rationale then was that the virus was like a terrorist or suicide bombers who seek publicity for their murderous acts and should be denied such publicity . I even started ending my pandemic essays with the prayer – From the fury of this pandemic Good Lord Deliver Nigeria . The pandemic has not gone but God has delivered Nigeria and I thank God for that and end my prayer in this column from today . I however am not as afraid of this mutation of the corona virus and will call it by its name right from the onset because the facts on the ground have shown that this is not really a disease that has found location in the Nigerian environment With vaccinations still ongoing , occasional social distancing ,masks now and then and crude contact tracing ,Nigerians have weathered the storm of the corona virus comfortably and no one should attempt to create another pandemonium over Omicron . Like we closed our economy like copy cats because the advanced nations of the world indeed our former colonial masters did so at the start of the corona virus . Yet the facts were clear, if grim . At times a thousand people died a day in Britain , Spain , the US , Holland and Brazil . Yet in Nigeria the death toll overall is still less than 3000 .Even ECOWAS in a recent plea for help on more vaccinations from the US and the EU , admitted that Africa accounts for only 4.3 per cent of Covid 19 global fatalities
This then , is the back ground to my story today which revolves around global reaction to the emergence and ravages of Covid 19 in the world democracies . First to a virus that an American president called a Chinese virus to the consternation of the Chinese government , the global reaction to S Africa which just recently announced the emergence of Omicron as well as the Nigerian NCDC frantic effort to join the band wagon to show that the Omicron was already in Nigeria with two people affected and the consequences of all these , on the nations involved .
It is necessary to start with S Africa whose Health Minister announced the discovery of Omicron in an apparent display of transparency in order to avert the confusion over the time and source of the Covid 19 which started in a laboratory in China and on which there is still some controversy that even the WHO has not been able to resolve in order not to provoke China .But the leading democracies of the world shocked S Africa by banning travellers from 7 Southern African nations to their territories . The alarmed S African president has called on these European nations to lift the ban and even travelled to Nigeria on what I will call an attempt at solidarity to lift the ban on S Africa . To say that Africa has been treated badly here is an understatement . But the fact remains that even before Omicron S Africa has one of the highest fatalities on Covid 19 in Africa and the reason is not far fetched . S Africa has almost the same climate like the Europeans which explains why apartheid took so long to collapse but now on Omicron S Africa is being given an apartheid treatment by the Europeans and the US because it did the correct thing in announcing the outbreak of Omicron on its territory . That surely is a lesson on double standards . And it is in that light that one wonders why Njgeria’s NCDC was so eager to announce the discovery of Omicron in Nigeria . Was NCDC looking for an award or any pat on the back on the discovery of Omicron ? Surely discretion should be the better part of valor and Nigeria’s health authorities should make haste slowly in showing the world that they are at work even when the low fatalities on Covid 19 in Nigeria show clearly that God is not finished with Nigeria inspite of their undue haste to get global scientific recognition or adulation Omicron .
All the same it is better to learn from the experience of nations with high Covid 19 fatalities to see that not all that glitters is gold . In the US the nation is divided between those who wear masks and those who don’t . Most Republican state are not for masks while Democrat states are for masks . The Biden Administration is for masks and recently gave a directive for government employees to be vaccinated by a deadline date but a US court has overruled that for now , and government has backtracked on the directive . In China which is a communist nation , government has no qualms or any opposition or protests against closing cities or areas where the virus emerges no matter how many millions of people are involved . In EU nations the division is between those who are vaccinated and those who are not , with those who have not taken the vaccine claiming it is their fundamental right to determine what to do with their body . Which reminds one of the claim by those who support abortion calling it a matter of choice on what to do with their body . Some European leaders have resolved that the solution should not be to turn those against vaccinations into enemies of the state but to look for other solutions .
Essentially European nations and citizens value their fundamental human rights and many feel that the lock downs and freedom of movement are being used by governments in the pandemic to erode democratic rights on the excuse or emergency of health and public safety . Some have identified past historical experience and mistrust of governments as responsible for protests against lockdowns and reluctance to vaccinate . People who have lived under communism , Nazi rule and fascist regimes recall their plight and are not easily sold on government orders on their way of life even where human lives are at stake . Some observers think that some people are so skeptical of government intentions and policies and weave that to their beliefs that governments are up to no good and use that as motive not to be vaccinated . The fact that even fully vaccinated people have died thereafter has been some incentive for those against vaccination to indulge in their stand against vaccination .
Finally some observers have said the emergence of Omicron from Africa is an attempt to please the Chinese who feel tainted that the Covid 19 emerged from the Wuhan lab even though how it emerged either from humans or bats has not been proven . If Omicron becomes popular, it is said , the Covid will be forgotten and China will breathe better as Omicron becomes the global virus . But that also brings to mind the said callous lamentation of Bill Gates , and even the WHO , that Covid 19 has not killed as many Africans as speculated . That is wicked wishful thinking falsely equating gross poverty with high covid mortality . Covid 19 has shown that the rich also die aplenty , while the poor live long . Omicron cannot do otherwise and Africa will prevail against all the negative odds and speculations .