Lockdown!

Sometime last year I was asked to write about my experiences in the first few weeks of the lockdown, I never got to submit it but after hearing about the new Phase IV of Covid-19 Lockdown which took off on Tuesday I remembered my documented activities and felt like sharing it with you guys:

Monday 9th- Saturday 29th, March 2020

Prior to the declaration of closure of all schools and offices nationwide, The Academic staff union of universities (Asuu) went on a two weeks warning strike and due to the fact that it's been over a month I have gone home I decided to go home on Wednesday 11th of march, on getting home I saw a message which initially I thought was another rumour that all hostels will be lockdown by 4:30pm Thursday. I had only two clothes with me and just a note,going to school the next day was an impossible task, so I have no other option than to make use of the limited resources I have with me. I spent my days surfing the internet, checking trends on Twitter and kept on procrastinating my plan to read my notes, but not to look unserious I followed the majority of the class in requesting for PDFs of people's note, though deep down I knew I won't open a page. After two days of Euphoria and merriment with my friends, reality of what was happening began to dawn on me, people walked around with face masks and gloves and the number of people infected was increasing drastically, various measures were taken by Government and Private individuals to curtail this. Then came the announcement by the President that Three (3) states should be lockdown which include; Lagos,Abuja and Ogun where I stay.

Monday 30th - Tuesday 31st, March

However, the State Governor announced that Ogun state's Total lockdown won't start until friday "Good news I will have more time to party and reminisce with my secondary school friends" I said to myself, little did I know that It wasn't meant to be. I woke up on monday tired and weak, coughing profusely and moving around became almost impossible, my parents who knew of my allergy to cold started giving me the necessary medications, but my Siblings kept on throwing suspicious and fearful glances at me, thinking It's the disease-Corona virus that I'm having, the fact that i study at University of Lagos Akoka and got back home few days back further added to their fears. With time i was ostracized and though i laugh at them for thinking of such, fear of the unknown kept on lurking in my mind, "What if it is true?, will I die at this age? Am I doing the right thing not telling everyone I came in contact with in the last two weeks that I'm sick?" All these questions I asked myself. It took all of my self will and the words of assurance from my parent for me not to pick up the phone and call the line the NCDC (Nigeria Centre for disease control) provided for such cases. To be certain, the doctor came over and after running some tests he confirmed my first thought-it was my usual cold. Throughout the day my Siblings kept on looking at me apologetically and when I couldn't take it again I spoke to them and let them know that I understand their fears earlier,for it is the right thing to do in such case.

Wednesday 2nd - Thursday 3rd, April 2020

By Wednesday I was back on my feet,my phone became my companion, after endless shuffle between viewing status on WhatsApp and clicking on all sort of trends on Twitter I decided to chat up my study group member and we fixed time to meet for online Reading and Revision, also my Boss from the Tutorial where i do teach Organized online Tutorials for her students and I was given an hour every Tuesday to take the students on WhatsApp, I was happy, for money will still flow in despite the lockdown. News of the increase in number of people infected increased and names of prominent people affected brought fear into everyone's mind, by now my Dad who is a Pastor increased the duration of our morning devotion and we pray fervently everyday, my mum reminds and force us to wash our hands at intervals. Life was becoming boring and stressful, watching TV no longer hold any appeal, in fact my phone became my number one Asset. I got involve in various Challenges on various Social media platforms, downloaded Tik tok and Triller to kill boredom. The rate at which people are stealing is increasing, since people are forced to leave their work, robbery and other illegal means of geting money has become a norm.

Friday 4th, April 2020

Finally it's Friday-the lockdown day, i was in a Dilemma, my close friend's mum's birthday was on Friday and I promised months back to come along with a friend to give her a surprise birthday gift, which was to play the trumpet and saxophone for her when she wakes. Now I was faced with either going outside and risk getting a taste of the soldiers' whip or staying indoor and letting my friend down. A tough battle played in my head, the videos of soldiers punishing violators of the lockdown instruction played in my mind. I decided to take the risk and set out very early to his house, My Mum and Dad refused totally but when I told them I'm going alongside another friend they reluctantly let me go but not without telling me to prepare to face the repercussion. With our heart pounding, our pace faster than ever, we walked passing through the most discreet route in order not to be caught. Luckily we got there without any problem and the joy and happiness on her face was worth the risk. Our friend thanked us and immediately we left for home. If going was hard,going back home was harder, we have to hide behind buildings and trees to navigate the road before crossing and anytime we see people gathered we slow our pace and keep our ears wide open to hear the conversation going so as to know if it's related to the soldiers expected to me in search of offenders. We got home in one piece and my parents and siblings had a good laugh when we narrated our ordeal to them.

Saturday 5th-Sunday 6th, April 2020

Boredom made me search online for jobs and any other thing to keep me busy and I came across various Essays and Article writing and decided to give few a try. At this stage my Mum was already complaining about the rate at which we were eating, it seems everyone was trying to outdo the other in terms of eating, the stock at home meant for two weeks will hardly be enough for Three (3) days. Thankfully, the state Governor gave the permission for stalls selling food to open every two (2) days. I withdrew my savings from my Piggyvest account and added it to the family savings for foodstuff.

Sunday service was done in the family sitting room and we listened to Pastor Adeboye's sermon on Radio. People aren't obeying the lockdown instruction, though shops are closed, people can still be seen walking around. A bike was stolen right in front of my house.

Tuesday 7th, April 2020

Had a class online with my students, Voice notes and diagrams were used, sending videos would have been perfect but the sizes of the videos were too large, I converted some to GIFs and it helped to some extent in passing the message I wanted to pass across to them. We decided to use Zoom for the next class. People are still not obeying the movement restriction instruction.

Wednesday 8th, April 2020

My online reading continued and just when I thought the day was over, we started hearing whistles and shouts of panic which signifies that Armed robbers are around, the landlords and youth came out to start Bonfires to frighten the robbers off. After hours of burning tyres we all went in and stayed awake almost all through the night in the living room whispering to each other trying to hide our fears behind small talks.

Thursday 9th, April 2020

What the Governor's announcement couldn't do the fear of the Robbers have done, the streets are quiet and empty, everyone is indoor. The few shops that were Opened, closed when we started receiving calls that the robbers are currently in the environ, sirens were blaring from the police van and soon we heard news that four(4) robbers were caught in broad daylight, it seems the activities of the landlords the previous night prevented the robbers from running away. Happily we all came out, hopefully we've heard the last of them, but we are still gathering car tyres in preparation for another night of bonfire...

• So sorry that was were I stopped. But I can remember vividly the struggles we faced, while we were trying to fight off hunger, we were fighting armed robbers too. With time it stopped and life seems to be back to normal. But with the new declaration from the Government (though I heard it'spartial lockdown, just few restrictions),I can't help getting worried. Not only am i tired of working about with facemask or should i saw jaw mask (because people only hang it on their Jaw to escape punishment not for protection)

I'm tired of living a life of fear, tired of having classes online, tired of staying indoor.

Thanks for your time,like ,subscribe and drop comments on how the lockdown was for you.