7 days after lockdown: ‘Better to be killed by COVID-19 than hunger’

One week after the COVID-19 lockdown, being forced by a presidential order to stay at home, away from their offices and business premises, Nigerians have said it is better to be killed by coronavirus than by hunger.

Especially in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun, residents have been telling tales of woes to whoever cares to listen. For most of them, it is a case of being asked to choose between two evils: coronavirus and hunger.

Some of them readily chose to dare the deadly virus in order to fix what has become a ravaging hunger.

This has created serious enforcement challenges for men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force, Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIOs; Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC and Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, NCDC in Abuja, for instance. They have had their hands full at major junctions and residential areas while trying to enforce the orders.

Ikaro Attah, Chairman of the FCT Task Force on COVID-19 told Vanguard the level of compliance was good. He said: “It differs from place to place. In the city centre, we can say it is 95 percent. Karu, Nyanya, Kubuwa, we can say it is about 60 percent. The people at the suburb see it as a rich man’s sickness. The metropolis has strong compliance. The religious bodies, churches and mosques complied. As at yesterday, Sunday, it was about 97 percent compliance, churches and mosques”.

But it is obvious that following the enforced compulsory holidays, boredom has become the lot of the people. Though the lockdown  was necessary, the experience to some residents is however not palatable.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/7-days-after-lockdown-better-to-be-killed-by-covid-19-than-hunger/