Undeniably, 2020 has been a dramatic year with many unforgettable events. It is a year that took the whole world off its balance and left many countries shaken. 2020 as a year, broke a record no other year has broken and is coming to an end, taking a lot of lives alongside
The year began with a newly discovered deadly virus; “Coronavirus”. It was a global pandemic that claimed millions of lives with it, leaving countries in disarray with its economy and normal state of living. The virus, some believed was a laboratory escape while others took it as a zoonotic virus, that is, from an animal origin. It started its spread from a town in China and continued to spread to other countries, affecting countries like Italy most devastatingly, taking alongside thousands of lives and crippling their country’s economy.
The virus hurdled into Nigeria in the month of March of this same year from the international airport in Lagos. Where it continued its spread across the country affecting every corner. It resulted in the inflation of prices of goods and services, increased mortality rate, and a disrupted academic calendar. The coronavirus pandemic led to a strict lockdown across countries of the world including, Nigeria. Various activities were put to a halt, not excluding school activities. In a country like Nigeria, the lockdown was unplanned and was no doubt an unsubstantiated decision and indisputably, had an adverse effect on the country, its population, economy, the standard of living, and many other aspects. After a period of seven months, the lockdown was called to a halt for the purpose of commencing the senior secondary certificate examinations. This was probably due to the fact that it could have left a big scar on the academic system. Later on, the lockdown was brought to a complete halt, and movement was allowed once again. Although, the lockdown was not strictly effected it had a bad hold on the majority of the citizens of the country, in terms of hunger, separation of most families over a far distance and for a long period of time, and many more.
The year further went on with the disruption of the NECO examination calendar as well as movement, all due to the sudden END-SARS protest. SARS is a public security service also known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad was created to reduce the high rate of crime in society. Instead, they contributed to an increase in violence, corruption, and crime rate in the country.
The year came with two P's, Pandemic and Protest (against SARS and Police brutality in Nigeria which disrupted a lot of activities in the country. The academic, social, as well as spiritual aspects of life, were greatly affected. As the year comes to an end soon and 2021 begins, we hope for favorable P's - peace and prosperity.
Teens Diary by Sussan.
This article was written by my teen friend Sussan. The words and thoughts are all hers. She does like to read from you in the comment section.
Lead Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.
For me, Corona virus, is the answer of nature, to stop us, from what we are doing. The stressed ecosystems, took a relief, and nature got better. Very soon, life will be different, from what we know. This will be a huge change, like the one, 100 years ago, when machines, took the hard handwork.