The effect of covid19 lockdown on Nigerians

Although I was on a motorcycle, i was totally oblivious of my surroundings and this was due to the fact that I was lost in the thought of how I would survive with the 4000 naira left in my account which I was about to withdraw. How was I supposed to survive 14days with such a meager amount ,I thought out loud. I jerked back to reality and almost fell off the okada ( what we Nigerians call motorcycle) as I heard the voice of the motorcyclist saying, " oga oga we don reach oh,
Abeg come down pay me make I find another passenger!" I stepped down to pay the motorcyclist and headed for the automated  teller machine.  This was the night before the lockdown began.

Days have gone by since the initiation of the lockdown and I have had the opportunity to speak with a few Nigerians.  Unica (an alias)  who is a student of the prestigious University of Abuja, gave me an account of how  an old woman in her neighborhood almost committed suicide : just because she had no money, no food and her daily wee earnings has been halted since the lockdown was put into effect.

Next was Anabel, a lawyer and a resident of one of the major cities on total lockdown had this to say :
"People in my neighborhood are complaining that they can't cope,they can't stay indoors when there's no electricity supply. Shops in my area are open because they don't have money to stay inside .This is their source of livelihood that has been ripped away and the relief aids given by the federal government does little to nothing at all."

Allie (an alias) ,a Law  student and a writer says, " I see this as an opportunity to be in solitude ,think about my life and the world around me and draw closer to my creator."

I put in a call to Ade( an alias), a very close friend of mine. And he feels that  the government did what they had to do in order to mitigate the spread of the virus . He went further to say : " let's be honest here, did we expect it to be easy ?  Of course it will take a toll on people but no directive is too extreme as long as the perilous virus is contained."

 For me personally, the lockdown has become an eye opener on why we should all take hygiene seriously . Most times we think we know quite enough, but is that really the case?. You would be shocked to find out there's alot you don't know and then suddenly the urge  to learn becomes insatiable . So I have learnt not to complain, rather I have channelled time to self development and skill acquisition.


Donations have been given out to the federal government to aid acquire relief materials and also help facilitate the fight against the corona virus pandemic. Notably donations from Firstbank and Tony Elumelu have stolen the headlines . We can only hope that these funds will be used efficiently to provide relief materials for citizens who are in dire need of them. Stay home, stay safe.