The negative impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) is no longer news. It has hit the world and its economies very badly to the extent that nations and governments all over the world have been shaken to their roots.
Millions of organisations and employees around the world are already out of business, jobs and it is expected that more will be lost.
It is already certain there is global recession especially because most nations and economies have already slide into recession because of the huge negative impacts of the pandemic.
Many parts of the world are presently locked down to contain the pandemic due to rise of the outbreak and its associated cost. This when coupled with the dwindling oil price makes it double crisis for Nigeria due to its high dependence on crude oil which is currently trading below federal government’s benchmark for this year’s budget.
The challenge of sustaining our economy and all its sectors e.g. health care, production, power, transport, petroleum and other relevant sectors are also becoming difficult, because of the current dislocations which is having adverse impacts on our economy and its various supply chain networks.
The government has been exploring several options to hedge the negative impact and the accountant-general of Nigeria, Ahmed Idris not long ago had to give insight into Nigeria’s excess crude account (ECA) that has depleted from $324.96 million to $71.81 million as at February 2020, in addition the recent statement of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva that Nigeria’s economy is being threatened by the twin shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sharp fall in international oil price will shrink our economy by 3.4 percent to face a recession this year which could last until 2021.
These are confirmations of the challenges our nation and economy, is expected to face in months to come, even after we have overcome COVID-19 pandemic and so we must begin to brace up to manage the crisis.
The health sector and other sectors are currently facing harsh situations, in fact transportation impact has shifted from just moving people to sustaining the sector with skeletal workforce and to ensure freight and other key essential workers can move around to perform their duties and also keep the economy running with very little value added, will further add more pressure to our economy.
The impact of this shift has resulted in an unexpected shortfall in the finances of both the private and public organisation and so we need to urgently start planning ahead by adopting strategies to cushion the negative economic impact of this pandemic and also start upgrading our health infrastructures to accommodate a wider competitive approach to manage expectations after the lockdown.
This current economic crisis is expected to hit vulnerable economies harder, especially those of developing nations, because of weak healthcare system, poor economic management system, poor maintenance culture, poor monitoring and regulation strategies, failures to properly address social inequalities, lack of proper diversification of our economy etc.
If urgent steps are not taken to reposition our economy by upgrading and increasing more investments in our health, safety and security systems in preparation for the hard times ahead, this crisis can become overwhelming due to our large population (over 200 million).
Building more COVID-19 test centres is very important or even outsourcing testing to private organisation should be at the back of our minds at this time and there is great concern at the moment in Kano State where figures were frozen for almost 4 days (the most populated state in Northern Nigeria with almost 9.5 million people) and with 77 positive cases as at 25th April,2020 .
The Honourable Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire recently at the Presidential Task Force briefing 15th April, 2020 stated that there are 12 functional COVID-19 testing laboratories, with a capacity to test 1,500 samples daily and as at 11.55pm, 25th April 2020 there was 1182 confirmed cases with 35 deaths.
The total confirmed cases of 1182 as at 25th April, 2020 does not correlate with our laboratory capacity to test 1,500 samples daily as stated by the minister, which shows anomaly and our poor approach to governance (lack of determination), believed to be the same reason why past governments could not provide basic social amenities(power, water, security, roads and free education etc) for our people.
The urgent need to revamp and reorganise agencies such as national orientation agency and other relevant information dissemination platforms to educate, orientate and communicate government policies on the need for obedience are partly responsible for the wide communication gap and why most Nigerians are still ignorant and yet to fully understand the implications of the magnitude of the impending disaster of COVID-19 we are in currently for.
We must begin to ensure that round pegs are put in round holes by setting aside politics, religion and sentiments to ensure we overcome the virus that is ravaging nations globally. An example of the display of our ignorance and violation of the social distancing rule was the recent burial of the late Chief of Staff to the President Mallam Abba Kyari on 18th April,2020 in Abuja and late Galadima Modu Sheriff, father of ex-Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff on 23rd April, 2020 in Maiduguri, where there was complete violation of health safety and social distancing rules which are areas that can help spread the deadly virus and can have adverse effects on our health, resources and economic systems.
While a lot of developed nations are developing public health tools such as tracing apps as a way to support health care systems, we are deliberately flouting laws to further spread the virus. There are a number of ways our nation can navigate its way out of the current situation and also manage the spread of the virus because at the moment there is a very high level of uncertainty in the nation, ranging from the daily high increase of positive cases, mental and physical health issues, unemployment, extreme financial and economic hardship among workers, businesses, government institutions and other relevant organisations that keeps the nation and society running.
These can be achieved by revaluating and restructuring our economic system by putting health and safety as top priority because without life there will be no Nigeria and it is people that makes up a nation, not the vast land or resources. Other ways of minimising the impacts of the pandemic are more collaboration and partnership with nations like Australia, New Zealand, Germany, China, Canada etc that have successfully managed and flattene
Source: Businessday.ng
