Lagos, Lockdown and Later

Lagos is the 5th largest economy in Africa and the lockdown declared by President Muhammadu Buhari for 14 days will affect not just its over 20 million people but the whole of Nigeria and probably West Africa.

Lagos has overtime grown to become the melting point of all forms of businesses, culture, traditions and people in the region and beyond. Manufacturers across the globe target Lagos as their market. All sorts of businesses thrive in Lagos; from food, fashion items, electrical gadgets, phones, building and much more. This definitely is the mother of all lockdowns in the history of Nigeria.

Of course the reason for the lockdown is to contain the spread of Coronavirus which has Lagos as its epic centre in Nigeria with a teeming number of confirmed cases. And leaning on the mistakes of Italy, Spain and the UK, it was best to work at checking the spread via a lockdown.

However, many wonder if the lockdown can do much as the differences between Lagos and most of the developed cities is much. The facilities in place in the developed world aides the stay-at-home order while it isn’t so in Nigeria where many of the population depend on daily income. Examples are petty traders, barbers, vulcanizers, roadside mechanics, tailors etc.

The biggest challenge for many of these people is the lack of the financial capacity to stockpile food and other home needs during the period. Thus, they see a gloomy period as it is glaring that 14 days may be extended because of the rate of numbers of confirmed cases grows daily.

Most of the respondents though are in support of the closure which they understand is for the good of everyone, in the long run, are concerned about how to manage the losses which they bare alone most of the time.

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Gbemisola Godwin runs a delivery company and she makes her money from the delivering items. She has a team of three bikers and an office administrator who she pays monthly. She says business in March has been poor due to the partial lockdown of Lagos state but she still sent out of her way to pay her staff but she is certain she won’t be able to pay them in April because she cannot bare more than she can.

She said “I have bared. that of March alone and I cannot do more than that because I don’t want my business to die. Of course, it is painful because my staff will not get any salary from what I foresee. I tried in my way to cushion the effect by sharing a bag of rice between 4 of them and a 25 litre of vegetable oil”

In his own case, Stanley Afebuame a photographer said that his business has been terribly hit by the lockdown. He said some events he has been partially paid for didn’t hold due to the partial lockdown in Lagos state. He hopes there won’t be clashes of events after the end of the covic-19 saga as dates will be rescheduled for some events while others will be cancelled. He said he has only two staff members and he had to pay them for March with some foodstuff since he won’t be paying them for April due to the total lockdown declaration by the federal government.

Segun Owajoba who runs a photocopying business said his business started feeling the heat when Lagos state markets were closed down. He said unfortunately for him, his business is located inside a market and he had to close for business. He said he has eight members of staff and he was only able to pay them their March salaries but said he cannot continue with them till business starts again. And even at that, he said since his business depends on the business of other people, it might take some time for his business to get back to life if the when the lockdown order is lifted.

Other respondents like Abdul Mamudu who sells phone accessories says that he is yet to fully ascertain how he would live his life because he said apart from the fact that he is not in business, his wife who is also not in business too. He said she sells clothes to civil servants of the Lagos state civil service who have been directed to stay home by the state government earlier on. He said they have three children of school age who will in no time finish the reserves they have at home.

Juliana Okon a teacher, a teacher in a private nursery and primary school in her response said that her school could only pay the members of staff half of their salaries for the month of March without any hope for the coming months.

And like the saying goes; it is different strokes for different folks. The lockdown which is a result of the novel covid-19 pandemic is surely going to bite hard into the economy with many feeling the harsh effects. However, the eventual hope is that collectively, our sacrifices will yield a containment of the disease and a victory for all to savour.