COVID-19: LOCKDOWN AND HUNGER, ARMED ROBBERIES AND VIGILANTES (PART 2).

The Lockdown

A lockdown is an emergency protocol that usually prevents people or information from leaving an area. In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown is used for actions related to mass quarantines which can limit movements, activities in a community that only organizations supplying basic needs and services can function normally.

Empty streets in Lagos as a result of the Lockdown

Between 23rd -27th March 2020, the Lagos state government imposed a partial lockdown on Lagos state which included a curfew, closure of primary and secondary schools and all markets selling non-essentials (all commodities except food and drugs and financial service providers). There was also restriction of movement in various areas of the state and increased sensitization of the citizenry on measures to avoid the

dreaded COVID-19. This partial lockdown also affected all religious activities in the state as all religious services housing more than 20 people at a time were banned across the state and removing food from the tables of those whose livelihood depend heavily on these services.

The final nail on the coffin came with President Buhari’s announcement on Monday 30th March that there will be a total lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states from the next 14 days beginning from Tuesday, 31st March to help curb the spread of COVID-19 whose rate was increasing rapidly. 

Hunger

This announcement was met with mixed feelings and reactions from Nigerians most of whom are self-employed entrepreneurs who depend on daily income to survive and feed their families. The lockdown which entailed a stay-at-home order, social distancing, restricted movement etc. was a time bomb waiting to explode and few days into the lockdown, many Nigerians had started feeling the devastating effects of hunger and starvation. 

Most Nigerian (Lagosian) families live below the poverty line and depend heavily on income from their daily businesses and jobs which may include commercial (danfo) bus driving, trading, hawking, cleaning and services such as barbing, hairdressing, teaching etc. The implication of this lockdown was that their daily incomes were halted for 2 weeks. It is important to note that most of these people had no clue about the impending lockdown prior the announcement and thus didn’t stock up their homes for the gruesome next 14 days to come and obviously they only had enough to feed for the first few days of the lockdown.

As the 14 days progressed and all their funds had been exhausted, these poor families and their communities had to eat as hunger was a far more deadly killer than COVID-19 for them. Vice was imminent as reports were circulated about how food stores and shops were looted for food in these areas and this soon gave rise to a far more deadly vice, armed robbery.

Armed Robbery

The Lagos state government promised to provide food and some relief items for the citizens to ease the burdens caused by the lockdown and set out to distribute these palliatives to the poor and needy but the story of Nigeria was the same as the food items were not enough to go round and only got to a few or were squandered by those officials tasked with the duty of distributing these food products. This is the first form of robbery.

The second form of robbery was carried out by the Federal government officials in conjuction with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the Presidential task force on COVID-19. Many wealthy Nigerians such as Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and other business moguls, commercial banks and other multinationals donated billions of naira to the federal government to help in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and provide funds for the non-working poor Nigerians who have been put out of their businesses or were being held salaries due to this lockdown. It was claimed that most of the funds were used to revamp our failing health sector, buy test kits, nose masks, hand gloves, sanitizers, drugs and ventilators and build ultramodern emergency isolation centers to curb the spread of COVID-19, thereby making it an excuse to avoid paying Nigerians or providing food items for the people. 

When an enquiry was made into how the donated funds had been spent, it was claimed that the documents were in the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Hours later, the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was on fire destroying most of the documents showing how the money had been spent because it was obvious that a large sum of he money had been squandered by government officials.

Seeing the precedent set by both officials of the Federal and State governments, the poor and hungry have turned into predators who prey on one another, rob and steal money, food items and gadgets from their fellow poor or middle-class compatriots while the rich and well-fed elite are spared due to their more sophisticated security structure. Many areas in Lagos and Ogun states have reported several cases of armed robbery in the last 17 days more than the robberies witnessed and reported in the whole year, 2020. Several reports affirm that there has been night time and early morning robberies in Yaba, Oshodi, Onipanu, Mushin, Isolo, Ikorodu and other areas of Lagos state by several armed groups such as the ‘One million boys’ and other robbery or cult gangs. Their excuse will be the fact that the first two forms of robbery by the federal and state governments have gone unchallenged and unpunished hence, their reign of terror is justified. Also, there is a fact that hunger is deadlier that COVID-19 for them.

Vigilantes

The rise in cases of crime especially stealing of food items and armed robbery is a cause for alarm. Most cases have been reported the Police but the little response and their continued absence from localities have led to a more proactive and drastic response from residents of these localities in the form of vigilantes.

Vigilantes are night time guards who keep wake through the night and protect the streets from invading thieves and robbers and ensure that members of that community have a sound sleep. Before now, robberies were few and far between but with the recent wave of robbery attacks and threats, there is a need for the vigilantes now more than ever. The robbers even go to the lengths of sending letters to houses notifying the occupants of their intentions to come and rob them, asking them for their cooperation and threatening to unleash mayhem if the security agencies are alerted.

Vigilantes have now been reinforced with more weapons, charms increased personnel and an increased budget with more youths joining the vigilance groups and more members of households (especially males and sometimes females) volunteering to ensure the security of their communities.

Conclusion

All these have been brought about by the lockdown imposed on Nigerians due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability of the Nigerian government to follow the good examples of countries like USA, UK, Germany and Canada to provide the needs of their citizens in these perilous times. The efforts of the Lagos state government to ease the poor lagosians of the unease caused by this pandemic and their top notch responses in dealing with all patients currently diagnosed with COVID-19 as well as developing cases must be applauded. 

However, there is more to be done especially as it concerns tracking the contacts of these patients to ensure that Lagos and Nigeria is free from COVID-19. 

Finally, the efforts of the local authorities, community leaders and well-meaning youths must also be applauded and encouraged during this period as it shows that hunger is not an excuse to go into crime. 

Warmest regards and may God help us through the second 14 days of this lockdown as he helped us through the first. Amen.