“Schools cannot be shut down forever. Markets cannot be locked up forever and you cannot lock down a country forever .”
―Ebuka Onyekwelu
The COVID pandemic has been on the prowl for about a year now, wrecking economies, maiming civilization to the shock and confusion of mankind. Resolute, it is defying science and knowledge; the twin biggest treasures of modernity. The pandemic has continued to take captives on its own terms, even changing its nature so that more treacherous variants with potency for the easy kill are formed.
Humanity is at the precipice and for the first time, it is becoming clear that science and modernity with all the giant strides in the evolution of human progress, do not have all the answers. We are now confronted with the stack reality that we do not have all the answers figured out. Lucky enough, we are not completely helpless and left in the hands of a murderous pandemic to devour, at will.
For almost one year, the world has been battling with not as much success as the energy invested, a pandemic that is bent on having its own cause; destroying everything that stands in its way. So many trials and errors, learning the curve, caution, fear, and now to vaccination, which sadly is the final point towards ending the pandemic, but has now proved to not be the final answer as one can still be infected with the virus after vaccination. Notwithstanding that the process of making vaccines has to be speedup on humanitarian grounds, yet, the uncertainties are stronger as if there were no vaccines.
In the United States where millions have been infected and thousands have died from the virus infection, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC – has warned that “it’s possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just after vaccination and still get sick”. They explained further that “this is because; the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection”. This development as foreboding as it is has left mankind more bewildered and desperate. The process of making vaccines can speed up, but the process it takes for the human body to build immunity even after vaccination, cannot be so mechanically speedup.
No one is sure when the country will take delivery of any vaccine.
Accordingly, here again, the final solution human knowledge and science can offer is not the final answer to the pandemic. Even more, it is a bold pointer that there may not be a final, straight-up solution, either sooner or later. At least there is no immediate or instantaneous permanent solution. Beyond those, it is instructive that the COVID pandemic is something humanity should both bravely and cautiously live with; perhaps, this will finally usher in the post COVID era.
In Nigeria today, there are no vaccines. No one is sure when the country will take delivery of any vaccine. Although many people still doubt the existence of the COVID pandemic in Nigeria and some demand proof of any COVID-19 infected person around. Yet, many people have had some kind of ‘malaria’ that refused to go after the usual treatment, while some have died because of ‘malaria and typhoid’. Efforts to convince the Nigerian masses that COVID-19 is real and they should take responsibility for their own lives have mostly fallen on deaf ears. Not only in Nigeria though, as people also struggle to accept the fact that COVID-19 is real in America and other Western societies. Just maybe life is not as precious or perchance, that is the kind of courage needed alongside caution, to confront the pandemic. In this fight just like in any other war, courage is a priceless instrument, and more than anything else, it is important that moving forward, the fears and anxiety of COVID-19 be replaced with measured courage.
Despite the shortages, infrastructure shortfall and institutional decay, the decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to go on with opening Nigerian schools from January 18, 2021, is a bold statement to the effect that post-COVID pandemic is not an event that is going to happen somewhere along this new path, instead, it is a new reality that we are going to live with, by creating it. We can also take a convenient, predictable path of shutting down schools, enforcing lockdowns, upon surge in number of infections with no definite solution in view. Although the Nigerian government has tried to assure that everything has been put in place and that schools are mandated to ensure proper preventive measures against the pandemic. But we do know that this claim is doubtful.
The fact remains that if each person takes personal responsibility, wears a mask properly, avoids indiscriminate touch of their face and surfaces, avoids handshakes and body contacts, or exchange body fluids, uses hand sanitizers and washes hands regularly; just these precautionary measures will go far to keep people safe. This is well within what can be achieved. It is thence a question of the kind of post COVID era a country wants to create for its citizens. Indeed, it is about how we visualize the future of the world. One of cautious courage or of horror and fright of a pandemic; either way, we do have an option.
A post COVID era must be created courageously trudging on…
Schools cannot be shut down forever. Markets cannot be locked up forever and you cannot lock down a country forever. A major takeaway from Nigeria’s government decision for schools to resume from January 18, is that moving forward, a post COVID era must be created courageously trudging on, or anxiously withdrawing with no specific solution now or at a later time. However, in any case, there is going to be casualty as the events of the past year suggests, for among other reasons, the fact that it is extremely difficult to enforce a total lockdown without willful cooperation of the citizenry. While lockdown may help to keep infections in check, it is mainly to the degree that people cooperate with the rules. In the early days of the pandemic, almost all affected countries imposed some kind of lockdown and in each case; citizens reacted in similar ways for different reasons. In Nigeria, for most of the citizens, lockdown is nearly impossible because they depend on their daily income to be able to feed. And with no robust governance structure in place, lockdown creates a dire situation for most Nigerian citizens who, unfortunately, belong to this group that can hardly feed without a day’s job. Similarly, advancing forward with caution must necessarily involve cooperation by citizens who will take proper wearing of face masks more seriously, among other COVID pandemic protocols.
For now, the focus of government must be to channel energy into bringing its citizens on board to join in a courageous but cautious forward movement where the future is not only safe but also guaranteed and not disrupted and comprehensively threatened by the fear and apprehension of the COVID pandemic. While the search for a solution is on along with its improbability, life should go on with all preventive measures taken seriously both for one’s self and for his or her community’s wellbeing.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
