𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠……….. Corona virus became a major headline in the news across the globe after it’s outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The first comfirmation of corona virus came on December 31, 2019, when the W.H.O(world health organization) was informed about a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology detected in wuhan. [1] In the mid of January 2020, cases started to appear in other provinces in china due to the population and movement during the Chinese new year holidays, and in other countries such as Thailand, USA, South korea, and Japan due to International travel. Africa had her first comfirmed case of corona virus when it was announced in Egypt on the 14 of febuary 2020. Within the duration of three months from the 14 of febuary , the deadly virus had spread across the countries of the continent. Lesotho was the last country to record a case of the virus on the 13 of may . By the 26 of may the communities of the effected countries were experiencing transmission of the corona virus. Though the virus originated from China, due to the international travels , most cases of the virus arrived from Europe and United states with non from China. Nigeria confirmed her firstcase of Corona Virus on the 27 of febuary 2020, making her the country with the first case of the virus in the sub saharan Africa. The first case came into place when an Italian citizen arrived Nigeria through Murtala Mohammed Airport from milan, Italy. The italian fell ill on 26 of febuary and was transferred to Lagos state Biosecurity facilities for isolation and testing. The test was confirmed positive in Lagos state teaching hospital’s virology laboratory which happen to be a centre for disease control. Prior to the first case of the pandemic in the country, on the 28 of january, the federal government of Nigeria assured citizens of the country of her readiness to strengthen survelliance of the five international airports : Enugu, Lagos, Rivers , Kano , FCT(Abuja). However, due to lapse in the watchfulness of the watchmen, the first case occurred. In place to aid the combat the virus was an NDDC (The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control) lead corona virus E.o.c ( Emergency Operation Centre). At the state level, preparedness and response activities were coordinated through the public Health E.O.C in each state. Announcement of the use of nose masks and hand sanitizers were made to better the awareness of the public on how to prevent the contraction of the virus. The first wave of the virus started on march when cases of the virus appeared in lagos state and Ekiti state, this was followed by other cases in other parts of the federation. Nigeria announced her first lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, and ogun state with just 97 confirmed infections of the virus. Before the order for lockdown and nationwide curfew , several other states including Lagos had already put in place restrictions and closure of places which involves crowd which includes schools, shut down of non food shops and other non essential services. With the lockdown in place and the announcement of the ban on airports, closure of the educational sectors, land borders by the federal government the adverse effect of the restriction begun to rise. As expected , the pandemic didn’t live only on the screens of the television and the screens of the smartphones with Nddc update on confirmed cases and fatalities on the headlines, the pandemic also took abode in the four walls of the economically vulnerable of Nigeria. The lockdown that was imposed was mearnt to halt the spread of the pandemic in Nigeria but in the process it created a block in the activities of thosd working in the informal sector. The informal sector which includes the artisans, traders, taxi drivers, tradesmen , hairdressers became vulnerable because they could no longer conduct their business. [2] The disruption in their daily livelood played huge and significant impact on their ability to meet their most basic needs. Aside from the incapacitated informal workers, the price of available food products skyrocket due to the restriction the lockdown placed on the transportation of food. In addition, the citizens of the country were informed of the distribution of palliatives in the country to cushion the effect of the lockdown on citizens. The problem that the scheme encounteree was transparency. For example in Lagos, complains were aired that the stimulus packages were not sincerly deployed. It was made known by the citizen that the distributions were politicized. [3] Similar situations were replicated in other parts of the country. Cases of hoarding and hijack by the political head was witnessed too. After several months of efforts of containment of the virus, the federal government lifted the ban that was placed on interstate travel and opening of schools on 29 of june with the number of cases at what could be said to be minimal, the citizens returned to their daily life. As the months went by the regard to the safety measures weakened and the cases rose. The country entered into the second wave of the pandemic as announced by boss Mustafa, secretary of the government of the federation and presidential taskforce. The cases that was disclosed in january , 2021 is more than 76,000 diagonised to be infected and 1,201 people died from the virus . With the pendulum of the Nigerian nation on the verge of swinging into another era of dealths and disruption as encountered in the previous year, the Nigerian government should pay attention to her previous mistakes and look internally ahead of the awaited vaccination. In a aid to hold the pendulum of the country’s health and financial security in the second wave the following should be in place: A — lockdown should not come into place because of its economical effect and it’s enhancement of lack of compliance to safety measures. B- The various borders that link the country to other countries should be monitored. C- The distribution of face masks and sanitizers should be

  There I was, in the living room with my siblings at noon. It was probably a week day, but there was no need to know which one. I was in the clothes I wore the day before. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere. In fact, at this point, personal hygiene and grooming feels overrated. My younger brother is, for the lack of better words, academically stranded at this point. He is done with his secondary education and was gearing up for his entry exams into university when the news of the lockdown’s sequel reached us. I now find it hard to even encourage study consistency in him. Anyway, I was diligently working on my double-stops and chord tehniques for Bach’s Sonata I: Fugue in G minor. I had to make sure my intonation and dynamics were in pristine condition, but my violin was not experienced in such virtuoso techniques. Well, the lazy worker, they say, always blames his tools. In the middle of the rigorous but somewhat stagnant practice, I started thinking. The night before, we received the grim news of the possible indefinite postponement of our already fragile chance of resumption to my university this early in the year. Thoughts went through my mind, “Was I going to be a doctor soon?” “Should I start learning a trade or looking for a job?” ”Is it wise to continue studying, hoping that we would resume soon?” “Should I also start crypto business before bitcoin gets too expensive to buy?” ”When will I be able to eat bread and groundnut as night food or even receive pocket money for that matter…..” I was pulled out of the sea of thoughts by the going-off of my timer. I packed up my instrument after browsing through the music piece I was working on. I had made a little progress, but it was way better progress than what I have recorded officially in my university education in almost a year. But who was I to complain? Everyone is in it together! We all had our roles in this resurgence and we all have to bear the consequences. The menace is worse than ever and now we all have to look over our heads to avoid the Grim Reaper’s scythe! According to the Nairametrics COVID-19 tracker, caseloads dropped significantly between September and November of last year. Even though prior to the occurrence, many Nigerians had already thrown caution to the wind, the government relaxed lockdowns, closed isolation centres and opened up the economy. The storm was finally getting still! To our surprise actually, the Nigerian government had to reopen isolation and treatment centres in the country on the 10th of December due to the increased number of cases. Only 7 days later, from 7,125 test samples taken across the country, Nigeria recorded a whopping 930 confirmed COVID-19 cases nation-wide! This very incidence secured us a pass into the second wave of the very pandemic that held us at ransom for most of the year. As if that of last year’s ending wasn’t enough, on the 7th of January, Nigeria recorded 1,565 confirmed new cases across 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory. This figure pushed the total number of confirmed cases to 95,934 and 1,330 casualties. The most recent statistics show the total cases exceeding a hundred thousand and also about a hundred more deaths in a few days. Lagos, the economical centre of the nation is the most plagued of the states. It is the epicentre of the pandemic in the country with 22,562 cases and 220 death. The Grim Reaper was no respecter of persons, like in its first production. Among the latest casualties were a former VC of the University of Lagos, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe who died on January 3, a retired professor of science education at the same university, Duro Ajeyalemi, Haroun Hamzat, a medical doctor as well as the younger brother of the deputy governor of the Lagos State who all died on January 6. What a sad news on the last day of the 12 days of Christmas! Lagos scarily recorded its highest number of infection in one day: 712 recently! As a resident of Ogun state, there is a temptation to feel relaxed, seeing that we have only had 2,103 cases and 31 deaths so far. However, there is a possibility of diffusion to our side seeing that Ogun state and Lagos state share a connection geographically, economically and road-wise. Enough with the woes and numbers! If this angel of trial is to pass over us with as little as possible new casualties, we have to look back, around and even in front. These directions hold the key to generation of a sustainable solution. Looking back Nigeria as a whole had very poor medical preparation for any type of global health issue! Our facilities are in very bad shape, we do not effectively encourage and sponsor research if we do any at all and our medical personnel are getting “ babysitting” pays in comparison to their foreign counterparts. The health sector is undermanaged, underdeveloped and underrated when in fact, millions of dollars are spent each year by the high and mighty for medical treatment outside of the country. If the coronavirus started its spread from Nigeria, we could not have handled it the way China did! Fine, our economy is not in the best of shapes, but we have enough funds to set up a couple solid facilities. If we are to defeat this virus and any possible successor, we need to look back at the amount of stress and trouble that we could have saved ourselves if we had invested well in our health sector. We lose many bright doctors each year to other countries because these countries have better working conditions. Without good health, the economy is inevitably wounded. So why not invest in it? Looking around As they say; no body is an island. We aren’t even that rich! Hence, we need