COVID-19: Sanwo-Olu fighting unconventional war – Olokoba, rights activist
Razaq Bamidele
Razaq Olokoba, a human rights activist and political analyst is the National President of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), a coalition of over 70 other rights organisations.
In an interview with newsmen in Lagos Wednesday, the youthful public commentator said Coronavirus is an unconventional war that Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu is fighting with unconventional methods and is winning.
He therefore urged the people to support him to accomplish the task of seeing the war, saying, anything that affects Lagos affects the whole country because of the location of the state as a vital point of entry.
Can we have your comments on the deadly Coronavirus code-named COVID-19 and how it is being handled in the country?
Coronavirus is a migrant disease that descended on the world unannounced. And that is why it caused a lot of nations, including the advanced ones napping.
And because of its strange nature, a lot of nations are bound to start the treatment through trial and error method. And because of the nature of its spread, a careless nation or careless government would panic into making mistakes.
This is the reason the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the effect of the virus would be devastating in Africa because of the continent’s lack of preparedness.
That must have gingered Governor Babajide Olusola sanwo-Olu of Lagos state to get set in advance for the killer disease. Health facilities, including isolation centres as well as adequately motivated personnel were on ground before hand to confront the deadly virus frontally.
This must have also informed why he rolled out emergency plans and named himself Situation Commander. Only God knows what would have happened if he had not done that. The whole of South-West and Nigeria in general would have been in jeopardy because of the strategic location of Lagos as a major entrance to the country.
Sanwo-Olu acted swiftly as a well organised administrator and that saved Nigeria a lot of what could have caused a monumental disaster to the country going by the contagious nature of coronavirus.
His action that saved the country from disaster through detection and treatment must have informed the assessment of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the United Nation (UN), that Lagos has done well in the handling of the monster known as COVID-19.
The disease, according to experts has a pattern of spread. The pattern includes having contact with someone that has contracted it. And because of the economic pattern of African which has to do with daily earnings, the risk of contracting it by a large number of people is very high. So, that informs lockdown that would keep people indoors. And when this happens, starvation would be the order of the day.
Against this background, Sanwo-Olu has put in place some measures to cushion the effect of hardship that is envisaged through provision of palliatives. The difficulties being encountered in the process of implementing the measures are expected. At gestation period of any programme, there is bound to be difficulties. Thankfully enough however, it is the difficulties that Sanwo-Olu is tackling now and situation of things is being normalised.
Are you saying Sanwo-Olu is a pace setter for other governors to emulate?
This step of Lagos is worthy of emulation. It is not like a road construction where other states would have different topographies to contend with. Coronavirus is a migrant disease that spreads through contacts with its victims. And since Lagos happens to be a major entrance to the country, other states should emulate the way Sanwo-Olu is tackling it because any epidemic not properly dealt with in Lagos would put the whole country in trouble.
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The virus came to us as a shock from outside and that is why even the seat of power was almost caught unawares. And because it is a migrant disease, we must stop its migration further into the hinterland. That is the reason we must close down all our borders until the monster becomes the thing of the past. And the reason Lagos Government should be supported in its onerous task of wrestling down the killer disease.
If borders are closed and the country is further locked down, don’t you consider the hardship it would bring in terms of starvation?
That is the reason for provision of palliatives for the citizenry if we truly want to collectively fight the scourge. Remember that some measures put in place by the authorities are the lockdown that would keep people indoors. And the palliatives must be adequate so as to keep the people effectively at home, or else, there would be unavoidable disobedience from the public.
And it would be dangerous to relax because that would amount to taking a step forward and two backward. Against this background, the need has arisen for financial institutions, religious bodies, corporate outfits, social and rights groups, wealthy individuals and foreign donors to assist the government in terms of making more palliatives available to those who really deserve to have them. They are already doing so, but there is a cause to act Oliver Twist by asking for more.
Like farmers for instance, the government must roll out a palliative pattern that would assuage their sufferings. There must be insurance package for the health workers and adequate package for the down trodden to assure them of something for their stomachs always.
The packages should be done according to the dictates of each state to achieve result just as Sanwo-Olu is doing in Lagos. If people are not well taken care of, they can cut the supply line of the palliatives and thus create more problems that could rubbish the already achieved gains.
So, the benefit of the lockdown cannot be over emphasised because if we fail to do so, the spread of the disease in Nigeria could have gone out of hand. And if we must lockdown, we must provide adequate palliatives to keep the people indoor permanently till the end of the war.
Is Coronavirus a war?
Yes, Coronavirus is an unconventional war. Or how do you describe an invisible enemy waging a war against us?! We have to keep it hammered into the people’s mind that the war we are facing has no convention and thus must be faced with a lot of unconventional measures to subdue it. Hence, the need for social distancing, using of face masks, maintaining hygienic conducts and keeping indoors always to obey the lockdown order.
Worst still, the epidemic has respect for nobody. So, it must be collectively fought by putting in individuals’ efforts at tackling the monster. In a war situation, nobody blames the government for not allowing him to walk on the street. Individuals would keep away from the street for fears of being killed. So, the situation on ground now calls for individual’s caution to stay alive.
Are you comfortable with the level of compliance from the people over the preventive measures?
It is not a hundred per cent compliance yet. People have complained to us as human rights groups that their rights are being trampled upon by the lockdown. Yes, we know rights are people’s interest universally.
But we are succeeding in convincing some of them that, in epidemic situations, people are bound to willingly volunteer their rights to the authorities to guarantee their safety and survival. Fundamental human rights are enjoyed when one is safe and alive.
And since the government is bound to guarantee the welfare of the citizenry with a view to securing their lives and property, the citizenry also owes the government cooperation and assistance to abide by its decision to achieve just that.
And that is where the palliatives come in. If the residents are comfortable indoors, they would not have any excuse to flout the stay at home order. So, both the Federal and state governments should go extra miles to make adequate provision for palliatives to go round sufficiently. Kudos to Sanwo-Olu, who has put on ground, palliative measures that have started yielding results that keep people indoors.
And with the vigour that the governments across all the tiers are exhibiting, especially Lagos government, there is hope that, there would soon be a light at the end of the tunnel.
What advice can you then offer the residents over the need for compliance?
The first thing to tell them is that they should know that coronavirus is real and not fabricated. We should tell them it is deadly and highly contagious and so, they should avoid any act that can bring them in contact with the monster.
For those who have contracted it, their major concern is how to survive it. So, those of us who have not contracted it, we should shun any act or attitude that can bring us in contact with it because the disease is not a ruse. And to guard against it, we should stay at home and observe all the preventive measures being spelt out on daily basis.
And if you are on essential duties and must go out, you have to be careful by taking all the necessary precautions. Epidemic period is when people have to be organised to avoid avoidable calamity. And if eventually one contracts it, he should know it is not the end of his life as it is not a death sentence.
After all, some victims have survived it. It is a war situation we are in now. And in war situation, the first rule is survival. So, we should obey all the restriction orders to survive because prevention is better and cheaper than cure.
And if the need arises for another round of lockdown, we would support it. But the government should allow the people to re-energise themselves by giving them an opportunity to store provision for the next level of restriction. There is no doubt that people have run out of stock in terms of provision and food stuff.
And when going out, government should make wearing of face mask mandatory. There must be zero tolerance to overloading by commercial vehicle drivers. And children should be disallowed from going out because research has shown that their immunities are so weak coronavirus would have greater impact on them than on adults.
What is your take on the behaviour of the security agents enforcing stay at home order?
The hiccups we are experiencing have confirmed the need for restructuring of the polity in Nigeria. We are running a federal system but the security system is run like a unitary formula!
How come the police in the states are taking orders from Abuja and not from the state governors?! In Lagos, until the community efforts were brought to bear that the situation started getting normal. How do you think that a policeman born and bred in Sokoto can police well in Calabar and vice versa!
The Federal Government should devolve some powers to the other two tiers of the government for effective operation in the country.
What is your organisation doing to enlighten the residents on COVID-19?
Yes we have and enlightenment advocacy unit and we are doing a lot. We have rolled out enlightenment programme and advocacy in the media and on the street. We realise that contravention of rules and orders concerning the virus by the people are borne out of ignorance and lack of information and education. All our over 70 sister groups within our coalition across the country and beyond have been mandated to serve as enlightenment advocacy volunteers.
As you and I are talking now, our jingles are running on radios and televisions. We are all over the social media. We have produced thousands of face masks and procured hand sanitizers we are giving out to people free.
