By Olukorede Yishau
We were three on the front row backing a backdrop that created the illusion of a stack of books on a shelf. Toni Kan, poet, novelist, and PR expert, and I were the guests. Segun Dada, the third person on the row, was the host. It was the first edition of the Kawe Book Festival on the Island. Dada wanted to know what I foresaw of 2021. I looked at the audience and delivered my verdict: COVID-19 will still be with us for the bulk of this year, even with the vaccine.
Welcome to 2021, a year which, in many respects, will look like 2020.
This morning, Coronavirus deaths have been recorded everywhere across the globe; it is no respecter of a new year. In 2020, doctors died or contracted COVID-19 caring for patients and doctors have continued to take care of patients. Nurses were at breaking point caring and they have continued to care. Lab scientists contracted the virus testing samples and testing has not been abandoned. They are the angels of mercy in a season that demands courage, and many are displaying it at a time some are denying the existence of the virus.
This year, we are hopeful because there are vaccines that can help tame COVID-19, but how fast can they go round? As a Third World nation, we contributed nothing to the development of vaccines. Only our sons in the Diaspora did, and that cannot count as our contribution, so we will not have equal access to the vaccines and, even when we do, it will be at killing rates and it may further aggravate our economy that is already in recession.
As of December 28, statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that there were 79,673,754 cases of COVID-19, including 1,761,381 deaths globally.
In Nigeria, more people have either contracted or died of the virus in the last few weeks. In Ogun State alone, 33 people have died of the virus as of the dusk of December 6. The state has had 2328 confirmed cases last week. In Lagos, the confirmed cases have surged to 24,952. It has killed 231 people. For the country, there has been a significant increase of up to 47 percent in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. As at the end of the 49th week of the pandemic, Nigeria had a total of 61,992, but it rose steeply to 66,090 at the end of week 50.
The virus is no respecter of persons and as shown by a special report written by Gabriel Ogunjobi, children, teenagers and the old have been affected. The report, published on Monday in The Nation, has, however, killed more of the elderly; of course, because of their underlining health issues.
As has been shown, the second wave is more deadly; more people are falling victim globally and more people are dying. But many of us seem tired of observing the protocols. Many of us act as though we have a ceasefire agreement with the virus.
Coronavirus is a killer. In the outgone year, jobs, millions of them, were lost to this bastard, which has also killed millions all over the world. Colleagues — many of them professionally competent — are home thinking of where the next jobs will come from. They were excused from their jobs because their employers could not withstand the COVID-19 blows. It was a killer punch that sent employers scrambling for new grammar to justify a bad situation in a nation in dire need. Until this madness, I never heard the word ‘furlough’, but many now know what it means and it is not good news.
COVID-19 is a globetrotter. Like the legendary Ajala, it has travelled all over the world but, unlike Ajala, it brings bad news anywhere it goes. Like a telecom giant, it is everywhere you go. The virus, I feel, wants us to live day to day, do what we have to do each day, and not think about tomorrow as though the future will take care of itself. It wants us to run to it and run with it!
There is still the need to limit social interactions and reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. Hand washing, wearing of a mask, maintenance of physical distancing, and the avoidance of mass gatherings should still be gospels we preach and practise.
We all need to be careful to escape Coronavirus and prevent it from further penetrating the world. It has done enough damage already and, in our little corner, we should join the race to clip its wings and leave it prostrate.
My final take: Like it happened last year, we should not expect much in terms of relief from our leaders. Our dear Nigeria is handicapped to offer us real reliefs. What some of us have received is tokenism. Those described as the vulnerable have received this token. Yet, we are all vulnerable, one way or the other.
Have the best of 2021.
DAP @ 50
For Dakuku Adol Peterside, the immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), yesterday was not just the end of a tumultuous year; he clocked fifty. In two decades, Peterside has been local government chairman, he has been a commissioner, he has been a legislator and he has led a federal agency. He sure has packed so much into his youthful years.
As NIMASA boss, his era was the first time the agency would remit huge sums in dollars into the Federation Account. It shared this record with the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB). Before then, the agency’s image was in tatters. Many saw it as where to go for free cash. In a matter of weeks, Peterside, who holds a doctorate degree from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, will launch a book ‘Strategic Turnaround’ detailing the strategy used by his team (which included his successor, Dr. Bashir Jamoh) to breathe fresh air into the agency. I have had more than a peep into the book and believe it is worth watching out for.
As he begins his 51st journey on earth, I pray God will grant him his heart’s desires.
* Yishau is a columnist and author.