"NO MATTER THE ECONOMIC COST"
“No Matter the economic cost”
That was someone’s comment on the current situation in Nigeria.
Let get something’s right. World Bank Poverty Data estimates that 90 million Nigerians are living in EXTREME POVERTY. We have a 23% unemployment rates and 20% underemployment rate. 56 million Nigerians depend on micro-businesses, traders and daily wage work all in the informal sector.
Taking this into consideration, the number of those vulnerable to any little shift in the economy is very disturbing. All these people have been dangerously affected by these lockdowns. You cannot imagine what they are all going through, and unfortunately, we cannot also access the full impact of these changes as a journalist cannot reach all those affected.
In America, a highly-skilled country and more educated, about 30 million people have filed for unemployment. You can imagine what is going in our country.
A lot of us on social media do not understand that we are amongst the richest class if understudying Nigeria’s poverty rate. That we have access to social media is a huge privilege. And how many of us have a Facebook account?
Only about 22 Million Nigerians are on Facebook. That’s in an overall estimated population of 200 million people!
While we were busy on social media, one of the most astounding stories happened right here in Plateau. 8 people trekked from Mista Ali to Jenta just to get food. They began trekking around 3 AM and got to Jenta around 6:30 AM. You need to understand that Mista Ali is 15km away from Jenta. That is two hours' walk according to Google. They had reached out to Jenta Reads and we planned out the expedition to avoid the soldiers on the road. Can you imagine what could have inspired such an expedition? The level of need. They also mentioned that they had other people in need in their communities but we begged them to manage with what we offered, they left with what they could get. I don’t know how they got back home or how they did with those back at home.
On Wednesday, an Alhaji donated food packs to Jenta Adamu. Rain began falling while the food distribution was still ongoing. People remained in the queue in the rains, they would not budge. Hunger was the problem, rain is secondary. The worse of it was when some mothers began fetching from the mud some of the rice that has poured on the ground. Wet muddy soil. What could inspire such actions?
Do you remember the story of the lepers in the Bible who said: “Why sit here till we die?” Ultimately, people will always choose to try living than to stay at home and die. The obvious option is going against covid19.
It has been succinctly described that we are between the devil and the deep blue sea, however, we cannot lose sight of the danger of both situations.
I believe that we can make a compromise that mitigates both the socio-economic impact and the infections, we should begin asking those questions.
That was someone’s comment on the current situation in Nigeria.
Let get something’s right. World Bank Poverty Data estimates that 90 million Nigerians are living in EXTREME POVERTY. We have a 23% unemployment rates and 20% underemployment rate. 56 million Nigerians depend on micro-businesses, traders and daily wage work all in the informal sector.
Taking this into consideration, the number of those vulnerable to any little shift in the economy is very disturbing. All these people have been dangerously affected by these lockdowns. You cannot imagine what they are all going through, and unfortunately, we cannot also access the full impact of these changes as a journalist cannot reach all those affected.
In America, a highly-skilled country and more educated, about 30 million people have filed for unemployment. You can imagine what is going in our country.
A lot of us on social media do not understand that we are amongst the richest class if understudying Nigeria’s poverty rate. That we have access to social media is a huge privilege. And how many of us have a Facebook account?
Only about 22 Million Nigerians are on Facebook. That’s in an overall estimated population of 200 million people!
While we were busy on social media, one of the most astounding stories happened right here in Plateau. 8 people trekked from Mista Ali to Jenta just to get food. They began trekking around 3 AM and got to Jenta around 6:30 AM. You need to understand that Mista Ali is 15km away from Jenta. That is two hours' walk according to Google. They had reached out to Jenta Reads and we planned out the expedition to avoid the soldiers on the road. Can you imagine what could have inspired such an expedition? The level of need. They also mentioned that they had other people in need in their communities but we begged them to manage with what we offered, they left with what they could get. I don’t know how they got back home or how they did with those back at home.
On Wednesday, an Alhaji donated food packs to Jenta Adamu. Rain began falling while the food distribution was still ongoing. People remained in the queue in the rains, they would not budge. Hunger was the problem, rain is secondary. The worse of it was when some mothers began fetching from the mud some of the rice that has poured on the ground. Wet muddy soil. What could inspire such actions?
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| Photo by Hanna Morris on Unsplash |
Do you remember the story of the lepers in the Bible who said: “Why sit here till we die?” Ultimately, people will always choose to try living than to stay at home and die. The obvious option is going against covid19.
It has been succinctly described that we are between the devil and the deep blue sea, however, we cannot lose sight of the danger of both situations.
I believe that we can make a compromise that mitigates both the socio-economic impact and the infections, we should begin asking those questions.
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