By Precious Okoh

Since the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic to virtually every part of the globe, it is no longer a question whether the disease really exist even though some doubting Thomases still believe that the disease does not or at most that the disease does not kill. Or perhaps not the way it is being popularized.

The first Covid-19 case in Nigeria was announced on the 27th day of February 2020 when an Italian citizen in Lagos tested positive to the virus caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Ever since then, the number of new cases keeps increasing on a geometric scale and within months, the Nigeria Centre for Disease control (NCDC) is counting in thousands of cases including deaths and discharge of patients. It is not to be contested whether there is really a virus of this nature since medical science has proved it and the entire world agrees to this fact as it has killed over 100,000 Americans and even a million more are infected.

However, there’s a lot of politics being played on the fight against the virus in Nigeria. Since the first case was announced, many well-meaning Nigerians and international bodies have donated funds in huge sums to tackle the spread of the virus. It is already within public knowledge that several billionaire business people and financial institutions and companies made these donations hence may not be necessary to list here. But how well are these funds being utilized? How well would they be accounted for and to whom? We know that Nigerian leaders are alleged to be corrupt and this corruption makes us believe that some persons would prefer to feed on the ignorance and misfortune of others.

Note that this is not an attempt to discredit that there is a fight against the killer disease. It is rather a call on the relevant bodies to ensure that the appropriate financial investments to the fight be duly made.

In as much as there are indeed new cases of the Coronavirus disease in Nigeria every day, there is also a lot of politics in the discoveries of new cases. There are several unanswered questions:

The Index case of Benue state is a good reference here: the politics behind the index case in Benue state is that one Susan Lawani who recently came back from the United Kingdom was diagnosed of the virus in the state capital. According to her, she had no symptoms of the disease yet was announced to have tested positive. She was then taken to Abuja Isolation centre where she was kept for more than 50 days. She has not shown any symptoms even for almost two months and also not been given any medication too. Was she truly ill or was the state government only interested in the bite of the billions of naira being disbursed to states to fight the virus? Who is deceiving Nigerians? Is it the woman whose condition has not deteriorated after more than 50 days of no medication or the governor who has a track record of non-payment of salaries?

Is it the purchasing of testing kits or PPEs or other financial provisions for the Covid-19 patients? This equipment eventually doesn’t get delivered or are not eventually purchased. Who then is to be held responsible? And how do we keep having increasing number of cases by the day? Or do we leave the fate and fund of the generation unborn in the hands of people who choose to feed on our fears? Do we leave the fate and fund of the generation unborn in the hands of people who choose to feed on our ignorance? In the end, the whole facts all drive to one point; that there is no doubt a lot of politics and lies behind the fight against the virus.

Stay safe