Covid-19: Lock Down Nigeria For One Month – Kingsley Moghalu

Kingsley Moghalu
Kingsley Moghalu

Former presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu has advocated for a total shutdown of the country, as efforts are in place to battle the spread of coronavirus.

Moghalu, the country’s health system lacks the capacity to handle large numbers, if there’s ever a cases if community transmission.

Speaking on Thursday via his Twitter handle, he broke down how a total lockdown for one month can be achieved.

Read statement below

Apart from the Nigerian health system’s weakness to handle large numbers of COVID-19 patients, poverty is a problem. This means congested masses of crowds of urban poor in Lagos, Kano, Onitsha, Aba etc. in their daily struggle for subsistence. @NigeriaGov must shutdown Nigeria completely. For a period of one month. To reduce community spread and give time for more contact tracing and to deal with medical emergency of treatments while it can still be handled.

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The army should enforce this across the country. Even in several advanced countries compliance with shut-downs is problematic, not to speak of a country in which education and literacy levels are not what they should be. There has to be stronger communication in local languages about the coronavirus. Then, what to do about the loss of livelihood for the many already-poor?

This is where the country’s extremely weak economy and empty financial coffers becomes really painful. The budgets of the federal and state governments must now be COMPLETELY reprogrammed to focus on Covid-19 in 2020. Pretty much little else except security should matter now.

The @cenbank fund for small businesses and families won’t be enough. The Bank as a monetary authority can’t do everything, including things the fiscal authorities should be doing. Therefore, the federal and state governments must plan for subsistence funding of EVERY poor family in Nigeria for a 3-6 month period with reprogrammed budgets. We have to be innovative in this crisis.