SINCE COVID-19 dawned in these climes, one of the most regular refrains, floating in the public space, is “stay home” — when feeling unwell; or simply to protect self from Coronavirus, by avoiding crowded places.
This advice, to be sure, makes eminent sense. If your home is free of the infection, why become peripatetic by wandering in search of it — literarily? Besides, if no one is endangered at home, then the home is the safest place to be — eminent common sense!
But what happens if you don’t have a home? Well, that probably wouldn’t apply to the majority but what of the minority — Hardball hopes! — whose “homes” are the nearest under-bridge, or that furtive office suite when the rest are home and comfy, or the work yard, bustling and noisy during the day but mercifully deserted, quiet and peaceful at night, or even the nearest lay-by, when night falls?
What homes are these folks going and staying? Where is that fortress in these times of acute stress? Where is that haven, away from Corona scare?
Nigeria, with a population estimate of 170 million people, has a housing deficit of 17 million units, by a statistical estimate. Besides, a projection of a family of six, in a housing unit, claims 108 million out of 170 million estimated Nigerians could be homeless. To address this deficit, a 2016 World Bank study projected Nigeria would spend Nigeria N59.7 trillion — hardly available cash!
In Homeless in Lagos, a BBC news documentary, the medium quoted a citizen, fleeing from the North East because of Boko Haram: “Despite the economic situation of this state, I’m still managing, living under a bridge. I won’t do this forever, my life will not end like this under bridge. I hope to return to my home and continue my life.”
But that might not be so soon, if the experience of another homeless denizen, with a bad sole via an infected foot (no thanks to a Marwa tricycle accident), is anything to go by. He’s been homeless and sleeping under the bridge too, for 14 years — and counting!
Good that in 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to build 5,000 homes a year to address the housing deficit. Between then and now, the situation is not clear. But with gaps between budget planning and delivery (no thanks to shortfalls in revenue), it’s safe to assume not all the houses were delivered, despite the yeoman’s efforts by the Works and Housing minister.
What all these suggest is that quite a number in Lagos, the state most hit by Coronavirus in Nigeria, have no homes to return to, and stay in, even as the Lagos government admirably rises up to contain the pandemic.
So, each time you hear the charge: stay home to stay safe, know hundreds, if not thousands of Lagosians, are simply unable to do that, even if they wanted to.
Hardball’s heart goes to these folks. But how the government manages their plight could prove crucial in triumphing over the pandemic.
