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Impact Of Covid-19 On The Grassroots In Lagos By Joan Oyemolan
A lot hasn’t been the same with the common man in Lagos since COVID-19, otherwise known as Coronavirus, spread to the country through an Italian, who returned from his home country to Lagos state.
In an effort to contain the spread of the virus, the State Government reviewed many activities in the state which directly or indirectly affected low-income earners.
These included areas of transportation, accessing health care, bank services and Petty businesses.
Transportation
Initially, commercial vehicles carried passengers to capacity. Now, the rule is that every commercial vehicle should take 75% of its capacity. This connotes that they carry an average number of 3 per seat, which resulted in a hike in fares.
Many of the low-income earners who couldn’t afford the new fares have resorted to long trekking distances to cut cost while others have had to quit their jobs. Take, for example, fare from Ikorodu to Oshodi was N200 before the lockdown, now it is N500. The result of this is that those who remain in employment and business now spend roughly 50% of their income on transportation.
Health Care
The virus has changed the mentality of the common man and his approach towards accessing health care. For fears of not contracting the virus, many now patronize local chemist for consultation while some resort to self medications.
The few who still access healthcare services in hospitals are met with resistance, or outright refusal to be treated by medical practitioners for what they feel is a non-life-threatening sickness, except the patient is tested for COVID-19, which was not the usual practice.
The outbreak of the virus in Lagos has made many seek solace in the potency of herbal medication rather than going to the hospitals.
Banking
The banking system has also been affected. Before this time, Lagos residents enjoyed prompt services whenever they visited banks. Now, the banking sector has become one of the most discomforting places to be.
The average Lagosian now behaves like job applicants when they have interviews in the morning. People now wake up at 5:00am to go to the bank, to take a tally number to have access to the bank services that day.
Two low-income earners, Mrs Sofia Ajayi and Mr Eluwa Ogidi told Ekohotblog correspondent, Joan Oyemolan, that when they visited the bank last week in Oshodi and lkorodu, they arrived the premises of the bank 5:30am and did not receive attention until 12.30pm.
They said they got home that day around 4:00pm, meaning they almost spent the whole day in accessing bank services.
Petty Businesses
Some of the businesses low-income earners do are also facing a hard time due to the virus—enterprises such as laundry services and canteens.
Canteens were initially closed down, but now, they have been open with only take-away services allowed.
An operator, popularly called Mama Ojo in Egbeda area of the state, told Correspondent Joan, that business is not as usual. She noted that sales have declined since lockdown began.
According to Mama Ojo, people no longer eat outside of their homes. She explained that some of her colleagues have quit the business, thereby facing hardship and the problem of caring for their families.
To bring succour to people of the grassroots, Government introduced palliative but could not go round to the people that needed it most.
To avoid such a situation in the future, the Government should take count of the homes of the grassroots and reintroduce another palliative, while partial lockdown lasts. The distribution of the palliative should be strictly monitored to ensure it gets to the people.
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