A painful reality is reflected by the unanimous
endorsement of the Governors’ Forum for a two-week lockdown to stem the spread of Coronavirus.
The states’ helmsmen said the movement of people across states contributed to the spike in COVID-19 cases. This is in spite of the lockdown of Lagos and Ogun states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by President Muhammadu Buhari since March 30, and the close of territories by states.
Frankly, there is a compelling argument for the position that a national lockdown should have taken place two weeks ago. The arguments against such a move have been well known and the fears arising have to be allayed. The key issue is the very structure and nature of the country’s socio-economy. The loss of income in the informal economy has been devastating. Even a better structured economy in the Republic of South Africa is up and against it in enforcing a national lockdown with the government deploying 70,000 troops to ensure compliance.
To achieve acceptability for a national lockdown, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has to up-the-ante. Civil Society must now be the arrowhead of the social intervention and distribution of ‘palliatives’. In other words in this objective, transparency and effectiveness is achieved by subordinating political society to civil society. The Governors have made an agonisingdecision, we support it and full compliance should be ensured.
