The first thing that greeted me this morning as I turned on my phone was the news from my country's covid-19 control agency. Strict movement restrictions and possible lockdown are announced. This announcement will take effect from 0.00hr on 11 May. Reading this announcement caused my spine to tremble, can we afford another lockdown? I don’t know if the government is working to save people from the terrible coronavirus or they are playing politics and propaganda about people’s lives. There has never been any integrated program or government effort to help people affected by past restrictions and lockdown, and here again, they want to lock us down.
Most people are yet to recover from losses incurred by the previous lockdown. Personally, two years will not be enough for me to recoup the losses I suffered in 2020 due to covid-19 limitations and lockdown. Do I think people will not accept this restriction and the order to stay at home? It will be difficult to deny the truth, especially if you do not see or hear about anyone who has been infected by the coronavirus around the place where you live. Many people still do not believe that covid-19 is real. It looks like a government tool to enrich those in the office while playing with the people's minds. You cannot tell people to stay home without telling them what they need to do to survive. A hungry man is an angry man. There is already blood on the eyes, if our government put up another restriction and lockdown things will be worse.
We will not quickly forget what happened during the previous lockdown which clearly revealed the incompetence and greed of our government representatives who brutally denied people their palliatives and put them in secret warehouses across the country. Only God knows what they intend to do in the face of such wicked and degrading practices. The palliatives have been given to these representatives by the federal government, but people only heard about it in the newspapers and on social media and never seen it with their eyes. While people were starving to the point of death rice bags were hoarded in secret storage areas after some of them had been sold out to enrich themselves. How corrupt people are. Now they are coming back to tell us to stay home.
I am very concerned about the poor around me and the poor women in the market who are struggling every day to make a living. Telling this group of people to stay at home is like sending them to an early grave. To this group of people, hunger is more dangerous than covid-19, and they would not care to break the law a little to survive. Who else would not do the same if you were incapacitated like them? Youths will take to the streets again, the theft and looting of innocent shops will continue again, and this could lead to another nationwide protest. Nigeria is currently facing a major security crisis no thanks to headsmen from the Northern parts of the country. Murder, mutilation, and kidnapping are commonplace throughout the day. Worse still, the federal government does not take strong action against the situation. This has led to so much hatred for the government that some people are now pushing for a consensus to divide the nation into three parts, namely, Arewa, Oduduwa, and Biafran. There is already anger in the country, and the covid-19 restrictions and lockdown could make it even worse.
Previous lockdown effects have revealed many government weaknesses. How can you say you have provided palliatives to people when they are being hoarded in secret places. The discovery of these secret warehouses was eye-opening. Those who were once starving and denied their palliatives could not hold back when these secret warehouses were discovered. Angry y breaks into all the warehouses. It was free for all as the bags of rice were taken by dozens of people as much you could carry. It's very sad, but can you blame people for taking the law into their own hands? Why were food supplies first hoarded even when people were starving to death? That's what I call pure evil.
Stores and warehouses belonging to innocent people were also looted. Criminals took over from where the hungry citizens stopped, breaking into innocent people's shops and warehouses. They stockpile electronic goods such as refrigerators, TVs, cell phones, motorcycles, and even vehicles were stolen in warehouses. Food processing warehouses were broken into and large numbers of food items were carted away. The government needs to remember these before considering another lockdown.
How do I plan to deal with this situation?
As a law-abiding citizen of my country, I will definitely obey this order. This means that no more meeting attendance is available until further notice. Luckily for me, I have not relied on any physical business to make a living for more than three months now. My online job has been able to take care of my needs and I hope it will continue that way for a long time. Writing is my biggest way of making money online even though I have other investments where I earn money passively. Interestingly, all the money I earn is in BCH, which means I have nothing to do outside my home except to occasionally check on ATM a few miles from my home.
What happened to me last time was devastating, I spent all my savings on feeding and supporting other families in my church. Fortunately, in this case, things will never be the same. If they locked me in, I would lock them out.
I guess many others are also experiencing this. The corrupt government sometimes deserves the blame.