COVID-19:

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has within a short span of time changed the world as we once knew it. The big changes, national and international, have been very deeply analysed since the past week here on UN75 Advocacy Group. I want to add a voice about some issues, risks, threats and opportunities for Nigeria, which civil society actors and humanitarian/development partners should be seeking ways to urgently address.

Family and social relationships

Of course, not all family relationships have gone sour or become (more) violent or intolerant as a result of the lockdown since March 30, 2020, or earlier. Some have been nourished by increased regularity of the resulting closeness among family members. Many families that I know and have interacted with these past days have stories of improved intimacy and getting to learn more about their children including their challenges and preferences. In some families, the children have taken over the kitchen and papa and mama are able to enjoy some leisure. Research into this area may reveal more of the positive changes as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Self-help initiatives

Beginning since March 30, self-help initiatives have sprung up and preexisting ones seem to have been strengthened.

On the WANEP North-Central WhatsApp platform, reports of rich landlords and various private citizens arranging for distribution of food and other consumables to the less privileged have been documented, particularly in Lagos, Rivers, and Abuja.

On the Justice and Security Dialogue (JSD) WhatsApp platform coordinated by United States Institute of Peace (USIP); similar stories of self-help initiatives have been identified in Plateau State.

On two WhatsApp platforms of Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP), members have reported similar outreach activities to assist impoverished households, in Ogun State.

Some of the initiatives mentioned above were implemented before the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs rolled out their palliative measure and have continued to be sustained by the self-help groups.

 

If the lockdown persists long enough, I strongly believe that the ancient sense of “neighbour’s keeper” will be reawakened and/or further strengthened all over rural and urban communities in Nigeria. This will, hopefully, contribute toward improving community resilience across the country during and post-COVID-19.

Improved hygiene at business locations and exploration of home delivery services

Some business owners have begun to improve the sanitation and general hygiene around their businesses including placing of hand sanitizers for easy use by visitors.

Some businesses have also begun to explore ways to engage in home delivery services where people cannot go to them but are willing to pay to be served at home; on the other hand, buyers are becoming more cautious about those they select to supply their consumables.

These changes have a way of affecting relationships, impacting our tolerance thresholds and social perception, generally; these are important peace and security indicators to monitor and analyse.

Increased use of online resources

More people and organisations are discovering the opportunities available through ICT; more online events are being conducted now, e.g. workshops, meetings, use of online research tools, other collaborative deals.

Possible issues for the education community to address

On another note, primary and secondary schools were in session before the lockdown was announced, some schools were still writing examinations; the sudden changes occasioned by the closure of schools, coupled with the delay in take off of the WAEC/NECO exams, all have to be managed conflict-sensitively.

To make the situation tougher, activities in higher institutions in Nigeria have slowed down or been suspended for some time, while Government and ASUU continue to tackle each other.

Stakeholders in the education sector must at this stage have to contend with backlogs. I know this is not going to be easy to deal with. To adequately support pupils, students in secondary and tertiary institutions, significant investments in psychosocial support, emotional intelligence strengthening, confidence building to be able to cope with the sudden changes, will all be appropriate. For teachers, lecturers, educational administrators, all of the above suggestions are important; they may also need to use their staff associations to support one another socio-emotionally via capacity building of members to deal with the daily vagaries, which now have assumed new dimensions against the backdrop of non-payment or delay in payment of entitlements, increased burdens due to having to make multiple payments in an inflationary economy, etc.

Risks of prolonged physical proximity on impoverished individuals and some toxic effects

I remember lessons that my colleagues and I learned about the impact of prolonged physical proximity, during field visits that we conducted to the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya (1999-2000). Consequently, I expect that across poverty afflicted households and settlements that are impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown, we should watch out for negative coping strategies such as: increased sexual activities both between legitimate partners and non-partners (in-between, we should expect spikes in sexual misconduct, rape, prostitution and transactional sex); expect increased incidence of child abandonment, mistreatment, and human trafficking; also expect increased use of alcohol and illicit drugs by children and adults, especially among the more dependent ones.

Now, legal experts will term some of the deviant activities mentioned above as crimes and misdemeanors, the religiously minded will treat the changes as signs of the End Time and term the “deviants” as sinners or “demon-afflicted”; sociological and psychological minds may prefer to explain these changes differently.

How society decides to address these changes will also determine the overall outcomes that we can get out of the process. As a people, we may opt to help the “deviants” overcome the traps they have fallen into, through social engineering and socially appropriate, gender inclusive and conflict sensitive measures, or we may stigmatise them till they fall even more deeply into their deviant practices.

Opportunities for civil society through collaborative engagement

COVID-19 has come and will go, but the world can never be the same again. Opportunities for CSOs/NGOs to harness the opportunities that COVID-19 created, and to engage in collaborative activities, now depend on stakeholders in the field. How innovatively we think and how creatively we engage one another will determine the outcomes for all of us. I will say, to attain the best results, more than ever before, NGOs should deepen collaboration with research institutes for both groups to mutually nourish each other and advance together. I expect to see the rise of consortia and coalitions among futuristic minds in the sector. NGOs that thought they knew it all in their chosen fields must humble themselves at this stage and link up with others at every available opportunity. Those who fail to do so will lose out like the analogue experts of the past decades who refused to “go digital”.

Concluding remark

The challenges are immense, no doubt, but the opportunities are palpably more. Let us use them well for the good of present and future generations. When those yet unborn finally are born and have grown up, they will read about how their forebears dared every threat to make the world a better place for all, especially when it seemed like too much was lost beyond recovery. Like President Barack Obama once said, “Yes, we can”.