By Boma Nwuke
The year, 2020, exits in less than 15 hours space for the new year to settle in and start its moments.
Before the curtains finally fall on the year and it becomes history,there are important moments of 2020 in Nigeria that should be taken into consideration.
These are Insecurity, protest by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU, Covid-19, Police Brutality and Election.
From early January to late December,2020, the issue of Insecurity in the country was the most discussed . Innocent Nigerians were killed unjustly by bloodthirsty criminals across the country.
In the month of January alone, Boko Haram terrorists killed no fewer than 240 people in the North East including a former Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Adamawa State, Lawan Andimi Thousands were internally displaced with many injured. The protracted Insecurity has forced governors to employ up unconventional security forces such as hunters to fight insurgency and secure lives and property making it a sad feature of a failed state.
In the North West, Banditry held sway in extortion, kidnapping and killing in a manner that suggested freedom from being arrested and punished. In the North Central, the issue of herdsmen/farmers clashes raged, spilling over to neighbouring South Eastern states .
While the North suffered the grip of insurgency, some southern states had woes of Police brutality, the killing of a man by police in Delta and brutality of another in Lagos birthed protests against the police with the harsh tag ‘EndSARS’.
Following the protest, the police unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), was dissolved with members reportedly trained and reintegrated into other sections of the Force.
The nation grappled with the effect of a prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over payroll system and unpaid wages. The 9 month-old industrial action by the academic staff exposed students to hardship and disrupted the academic calendar. It is sad to note that for a whole session, no academic activity took place in public institutions. The call off of the strike achieved through painstaking negotiations is gratifying in the sense that students would once more have the privilege of going back to school.
Just as 2020 was a global challenge due to Covid, it is important to state that Nigeria was not left out of the unexpected emergence of the virus. The index case was reported in February 27 in Lagos when an Italian citizen tested positive for the virus. The second case was on the 9th of March at Ewekoro in Ogun state from someone who had contact with the Italian and then other cases were recorded. At first, the government did not manage the situation well.
What was expected from the Federal Government was taking a cue at least from countries with similar experiences by immediately shutting down the country to prevent people coming from countries with high covid alerts , but the reverse was the case as governmentt carried on with activities as though nothing happened . Areas prone to mass transmission of the virus continued to be allowed to operate. Lockdown was eventually announced after the virus had started hitting targets in government circles. The result was loss of prominent Nigerians with many deaths unrecorded in towns and villages.
Lack of coordination between various agencies and stakeholders in awareness, and the distribution of palliatives to poor Nigerians trailed the covid arrangement for lockdown, which informed discontent, unease and repeated calls for lifting restrictions as the measure was more like a punishment for the people than prevention .
Nigerians are highly religious people. They believed in the supremacy of God over all things including diseases such as the lethal coronavirus. The protocols of covid in mask wearing, social distancing which form part of the world’s new vocabulary are constantly ignored in some public and private places including worship centres.
As of 30, December,2020, coronavirus cases in the country soared to 86776 , out of this is a total of 73322 recovered cases and 1,278 deaths. The figure showed great difference between Nigeria with lean resources and wealthy nations.
Nigeria has joined the league of nations prepared to procure covid vaccines for the citizens. About N500billion has been earmarked for purchase but apathy shown by the citizens might make the successful administration of the vaccines difficult.
Nigeria has gone steps further in the conduct of election. The off cycle elections in Edo and Ondo States showed that INEC allowed the will of the people to prevail.
It is interesting that the 366 days in the year are ending in a short while.
In a few hours from now the new year will set in. Many will make resolutions that would direct the path to their future, others will keep trusting and hoping that all will be well. It is indeed the expectation of the Nigerian people that all will be well.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
