The Impact of COVID19 on Human Security in Nigeria

THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON HUMAN SECURITY IN NIGERIA

Chinedu S. Udeh¹ and Elizabeth N. Amadi²

Abstract

Background: The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 in Wuhan China and its spread across 213 countries and territories around world has profoundly impacted humanity and global economy. This paper explored the impact of COVID 19 on human security in Nigeria in order to proffer some strategies to mitigate the negative consequences on the people. Nigeria had her COVID 19 index case in February 2020 and since then more than 50,000 Nigerians have tested positive to the disease and about 1000 deaths have been recorded with new cases being recorded daily.

Materials and Methods: The paper used secondary sources of data collected from published and unpublished materials. The collected data were analysed qualitatively using logical deduction supported by human security theory.

Results: It was revealed that COVID 19 complicated human insecurity already in existence in Nigeria by exacerbating conflict and poverty in the country. It also worsens food insecurity in millions of homes and economic security of Nigerians who were prevented from moving about ekeing out a living. The World Bank projected that five million Nigerians would be pushed into poverty due to COVID 19. The pandemic threatened the safety of the people from such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression and there were hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life due to the measures imposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria to mitigated COVID 19 such as lockdown, isolation and quarantine. Furthermore, COVID 19 in Nigeria also exposed the poor state of infrastructure such as potable water, electricity, decent housing and markets in the country Some of the strategies to curb the impact would include institutionalization of disease early warning systems in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. It is also important for government to ensure that the citizens of Nigeria buy into whatever effort is being made and the urgent need to alleviate poverty through social safety nets and sound economic policy. The FGN should support and encourage local alternative medicines that could be integrated into orthodox medicine to mitigate epidemics and pandemics in the country.

Conclusion: It is the submission of the paper that human security has been undermined in Nigeria as a result of COVID 19.

Keywords: Coronavirus, Security and Human Security

1.0 Introduction

Human history is laced with accounts of outbreaks of diseases, epidemics and pandemics with attendant consequences on lives, property and well-being of people. For instance, the outbreak of the Black death from 1346 -1353 was caused by a strain of the bacterium Yersinia pestis wiped out about 200 million lives in four years. The plague changed the cause of Europe’s history with so many dead and labour became harder to find contributing to technological innovation and better pay for workers. It also led to start of quarantine as a means of curtailing its spread in Western world Furthermore, the Spanish Flu of 1918 – 1920 led to the death of about 500 million people from the South Seas to the North Pole and adversely impacted humanity after World War 1. In the above two examples, the human security of the people were greatly undermined and compromised.

The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease (COVID 19) in December 2019 in Wuhan China and its spread across the world has posed serious existential threat to human lives and security in different parts of the world. As at August 2020, over 22 million persons have contracted the virus, 14 million have recovered while 780,000 have died from complications caused by COVID 19 in different countries of the world. The United States of America has the highest number of death estimated at 172,000 as at August 20, 2020 followed by Brazil with 110,000 deaths, while South Africa has recorded 590,000 confirmed cases with 11,982 deaths. One factor responsible for the rapid spreading of the pandemic is globalization that has enhanced means of transportation in today’s world. The consequences of the pandemic have been felt across economic, social, political, environmental, and indeed all facets of lives have been impacted like never before in recent decades.

Nigeria has recorded about 50,000 confirmed cases with 974 deaths as at August 2020. (Worldometer: 2020). In response to the pandemic, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) emplaced measures such as the constitution of a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID 19, total lockdown of the country including closing airports, schools and commercial centres as well as land borders, institution of protocols and guidelines among others. The efforts of the FGN have to some extent contained the spread of the virus to a manageable proportion with improved recovery rates and fewer deaths recorded. Despite the measures, Nigeria continues to witness the spread of the pandemic especially community transmissions which is adversely affecting the lives and livelihood of the people and not allowed for flattening the curve. The impact of COVID 19 on the people in Nigeria cut across social, economic, political and erosion of livelihoods as well as the curtailment of human rights.

The outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic has negatively affected human security in about 213 countries and territories. Human security which entails the security of individuals refers to the security of people and communities, as opposed to the security of states. Human security recognises that there are several dimensions related to feeling safe, such as freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom from indignity. Human security is a people-centred approach to security which has been undermined by COVID 19 diverse ways such as making them feel unsafe and curtailing of human freedom to move and engage in work and leisure activities.

This paper therefore examines the impact of COVID 19 on human security in Nigeria. It takes off with a conceptual clarification of the key variables of COVID 19 and human security. Thereafter, it provides a snapshot of COVID 19 and security in Nigeria and highlights the impact and challenges of COVID 19 on human security in Nigeria. Finally, the paper provides some strategies to curb the impact of COVID 19 on human security in Nigeria as well as offer some policy recommendations.

2.0 Conceptual Clarifications

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019-nCoV), a mild to severe respiratory illness that is caused by a coronavirus (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 of the genus Betacoronavirus), is transmitted chiefly by contact with infectious material (such as respiratory droplets), and is characterized especially by fever, cough, and shortness of breath and may progress to pneumonia and respiratory failure.

National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic power, diplomacy, power projection and political power. It is the safety of a country as managed through the exercise of economic and political power, intelligence agencies and diplomacy. Pandemics and other diseases affect the lives and well being of the people, hence the concept of security has shifted focus to the human dimension as opposed to state-centric conceptualisations. The human being is now seen as the key if not the referent object of security.

Human Security

The definition of human security is subject to policy and academic debate in literature. Its first, most-commonly cited usage came in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 1994 Human Development Report. The report devoted a chapter the ‘New Dimensions of Human Security’, characterising the term as “a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, a job that was not cut, an ethnic tension that did not explode in violence, a dissident who was not silenced,” as well as stating that human security was universal; its components interdependent; based upon preventative, rather than reactionary measures; and intrinsically people-centred (UN, 1994: 22-23). Defining human security as “safety from such chronic threats as hunger, disease and repression” and “protection from sudden and hurtful disruptions in the patterns of daily life,” the UNDP broadened the conceptualisation of security. This moved it away from state-centric approach that had prevailed to encompass seven key individual centric components: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security (UN, 1994: 24-25).

As underlined in General Assembly resolution 66/290, “human security is an approach to assist Member States in identifying and addressing widespread and cross-cutting challenges to the survival, livelihood and dignity of their people.” It calls for “people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented responses that strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people.” (UN.org: 2020). For the purpose of this paper, the conceptualization offered by the UN aligns with how COVID 19 impacts humanity by making them vulnerable to economic, so-political and food insecurity among others. This vulnerability has played out in Nigeria since the outbreak of the disease in the country.

3.0 An Overview of COVID-19 and Security in Nigeria

After the first infections in China at the end of 2019, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has continued to spread across the world. No continent has been able to escape this virus, which has recorded average mortality of around 2% and still climbing with an estimate of 3.4% by the World Health Organization (WHO). To date, there have been nearly 203,814 deaths with more than 2,940,712 people infected and 842,034 recoveries across 210 countries and territories around the world and 2 international conveyances: the Diamond Princess Cruise ship harbored in Yokohama, Japan and the Holland America’s MS Zaandam cruise ship, worldwide, thus portraying the intensiveness of the virus globally (WHO Situational Report 26th April 2020, 10:00 am GMT).

Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020, COVID-19 has become a global emergency, given its impact on the entire world population and the economy. According to scenario simulations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), global growth could fall by 3 percent for the year 2020. Several other sources are also predicting a fall in global growth due to the direct effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. The global economy may enter a recession at least in the first half of the year 2020, when adding the direct and indirect effects of the crisis (e.g. supply and demand shocks, commodity slump, fall in tourism arrivals, etc.). However, as the pandemic progresses slowly on the African continent, studies by international organizations have less addressed the economic impact on individual African countries.

Nigeria is not immunized from COVID-19 with her index case recorded on 22 February 2020 through an Italian.According to COVID-19 Surveillance Update by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) as at 25 April 2020 revealed that there were 1,182 cases, 222 recoveries and 35 deaths. On 20 August 2020, there were 50488 COVID 19 confirmed cases, 37,304 recoveries and 985 deaths with Lagos State leads with 17,092 confirmed cases, 14,496 recoveries and 201 death, while the Federal Capital Territory has 4837 confirmed cases, 1389 recoveries and 46 deaths. (NCDC: 2020). Nigeria has over 60 percent recovery rates and given her population of over 200 million, it could be said that Nigeria is not doing badly in mitigating the pandemic but the problem of reliability of data could undermine the credibility of the official statistics presented by the PTF. It is not yet over as the pandemic shows no signs of slowing down despite all the protocols and measures put in place to contain the spread in the country. Nigeria, because of its spatial arrangement to international trade and migration is not immune to the harmful effects of COVID-19, which are of two kinds: endogenous (internal effects) and exogenous (external effects).

i. The exogenous effects: these come from direct trade links between affected partner continents such as Asia, Europe and the United States; tourism. The decline in remittances from African Diaspora, Foreign Direct Investment, illicit financing flows and domestic financial market tightening, etc.
ii. The endogenous effects occur as a result of the rapid spread of the virus in Nigeria. On one hand, they are linked to morbidity and mortality. On the other hand, they lead to a disruption of economic activities. This may cause a decrease in domestic demand in tax revenue due to the loss of oil and commodity prices coupled with an increase in public expenditure to safeguard human health and support economic activities.

Human security in Nigeria is threatened by economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security. COVID 19 dislocated the economic security of millions of Nigeria as it disrupted their stable basic income from productive and remunerative work. The pandemic caused many Nigeria households to suffer food insecurity and it seriously threatened their health security because there is no approved tool to fight COVID 19. During COVID 19, the incidents of rape and other forms of gender based violence in Nigeria increased which threaten personal security of the people. It is in view of the effects of COVID 19 that the FGN and other stakeholders make efforts to combat the virus in order to enhance the security and well being of the people.

4.0 Efforts by the Federal Government of Nigeria Towards the Mitigation of COVID 19 and Human Insecurity

The FGN remains committed to working with states and other stakeholders to provide optimal care for all COVID-19 confirmed cases in the country. The method of contact tracing is ongoing to identify all persons who have been in contact with the new confirmed cases. Nigerians and others coming in from other countries are made to isolate. The strategy adopted by the Presidential Task Force chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha working in conjunction with the states includes testing, detecting, isolation, contact tracing and management of the pandemic. The Port Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health has heightened screening at all air, land and sea points of entry into Nigeria and adapted the protocols to reflect the travel guidance issued by the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus. The National Emergency Operations Centre led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) supported by partners continues to coordinate response activities and strengthen the preparation capacity across states nationwide. An intensive national risk communications campaign is ongoing to inform Nigerians about COVID-19. It is observed that pandemic communication is not really cascading down to the grassroots as many Nigerians still doubt the authenticity of government information on COVID 19. Some even argue that there is no COVID 19 in Nigeria. It is therefore important to rejig crisis communication strategy of both the private and public communication agencies.

The Federal Ministry of Health working closely with states and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 continues to review response activities and institute measures to protect the health of Nigerians. Against the backdrop of global efforts to tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact on countries’ socioeconomic life, the United Nations (UN) has provided the Nigerian government $2 million to procure essential medical supplies and to care for individuals with confirmed cases.

Other government measures (including the Central Bank) to mitigate the economic effects of Coronavirus on the Nigerian economy include:

a) All CBN intervention facilities are hereby granted a further moratorium of one year on all principal repayments, effective March 1, 2020.
b) Interest rate reduction from 9 to 5 percent per annum for 1 year effective March 1, 2020. Creation of a N50 Billion targeted credits facility to households and SMEs.
c) Credit support for healthcare industry.Regulatory forbearance. All deposit money banks leave to consider temporal and as a time-limited restructuring of the tenor and loan terms for businesses and households most affected. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would further support industry funding levels to maintain deposit money banks (DMB)s’ capacity to direct credit to individuals, households and businesses.

The Federal government has also adopted a compulsory lockdown protocol in some states in the country imposed by other countries worldwide, as well implementing mobile courts to try violators of the lockdown protocol.

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), as part of its COVID-19 response efforts, has adopted an electronic filing approach for capital market operators and stakeholders.

Also, the National Judicial Council (NJC), through its Chairman, Justice Mohammed Tanko (Chief Justice of Nigeria), has directed the heads of courts across the country to suspend all court sittings till further notice. However, matters that are urgent, essential or time bound under Nigerian law are exempted from the suspension.

The FGN and some other stakeholders have made spirited efforts to contain the spread of COVID 19 in Nigeria, hence the disease has not seriously caused the death of many Nigerians compared to the death recorded through malaria, HIV AIDS, and other epidemics in the country. For example, there are estimated 100 million malaria cases with over 300,000 deaths per year in Nigeria, while HIV/AIDS deaths were 215,000 per annum. However, COVID 19 has exposed shamefully the inadequacies of the Nigerian health system such as scandalously limited number of ventilators, hospital beds, intensive care unit facilities, personal protective equipment and even medical personnel. Furthermore, COVID 19 in Nigeria also exposed the poor state of infrastructure such as potable water, electricity, decent housing and markets in the country. The poor citizens are expected to wash their hands regularly with clean water which is a luxury to millions of them. They are required to wear face mask and hand sanitise, which millions who are jobless and living below poverty level cannot afford. The excruciating and pervasive poverty in Nigeria will complicate efforts of government to mitigate the pandemic. The World Bank (2020) stated that COVID 19 will push as many as 5 million people into poverty in Nigeria. It is to be underlined that Nigeria is already referred to as the poverty capital of the world and the pandemic exacerbated the poverty situation in the country as millions of household are heavily disadvantaged even as the Nigerian economy is weakened by plummeted oil prices and continued closure of land and air borders.The total and partial lockdown of the country has serious implications for the economy, jobs and livelihoods of the people thus impacting human security in Nigeria. It is therefore, important that government begins to emplace measures and policy that will mitigate poverty and enhance economic recovery and growth in order to cushion the effects of the pandemic on the people especially the vulnerable poor.

5.0 Challenges and Impact of COVID 19 Human Security in Nigeria

Some challenges faced in this pandemic could be stated as follows; One of the biggest dangers faced at the moment is panic. To control diseases such as COVID-19, it is critical that human behavior is controlled in a way that inhibits the spread of the disease. Therefore, the challenge with panic is that people change their behavior erratically. They might also behave in a way that leads to a further spread in the disease or pose a different risk entirely to themselves, families and their communities at large.

Misinformation can also lead to panic. In fact it does more than create panic, It can lead to wrong actions. We have already seen people come down with chloroquine toxicity in this pandemic when they heard the drug might be effective. Therefore, misinformation can also lead to complacency. This is because there are people who believe that black people can’t have the COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the biggest threats are panic, politics and indecision.

COVID-19 is a serious disease and should be combatted effectively, through remedial measures and strategic communication. Citizens need to understand that not making a decision is a decision itself. The rate at which this disease has spread has shown that citizens must be thinking and be supportive of efforts and observe all the guidelines and protocols fashioned out to contain the virus. The national response to COVID-19 must be inclusive, to ensure that prisoners, internally displaced persons and other marginalized and vulnerable communities are not left out at of any stages of the fight against the virus. The palliative provided by government should be distributed with primordial, party line and religious considerations. Every vulnerable Nigeria deserves some measure of succor from both government and philanthropic individuals.

There are challenges of inadequate health care system and underlying security conditions in Nigeria such as insurgency, kidnapping for ransome, armed banditry and ethno-communal conflicts among others that complicate the management of COVID 19 for improved human security in Nigeria.

The Nigerian authorities have a human rights obligation to ensure that the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of the population, such as persons living with disabilities and the homeless, have sufficient access to the services needed to give them the best chance of survival. This will include access to health services and facilities and the provision of emergency shelter, especially where needed to allow homeless people, including children in street situations to be protected. Nigeria must urgently adopt a strategy for the protection of the rights of people deprived of their liberty, including through addressing overcrowding in prisons through the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience, reviewing decisions to retain people in pre-trial detention and adopting alternatives to detention, and considering the early or conditional release of people at risk such as older people and those with underlying medical conditions.

Beyond the tragic health hazards and human consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic uncertainties, and disruptions that have resulted come at a significant cost to the global economy as well as Nigeria. Most central banks, finance ministries and independent economic experts around the world have taken solace in the prediction that the impacts might be sharp but short-lived, and economic activities would return to normal thereafter. This line of thought mirrors the thinking of the events that shaped the 2016 Nigerian financial crisis. When compared to COVID-19, the 2016 crisis could be described as minor and manageable. This is due to the tumultuous events that COVID-19 had spread across the country as well as globally, which cuts across every facet of human existence and the consequences may linger beyond the second half of 2020. - is affects the global community as a whole due to the slowdown in the global economy and federal imposed lockdown in some countries, such as Italy, Spain and most Eurozone economies and beyond. As a result, COVID-19 has also taken its toll on the global demand for oil. Nigeria’s economy had never fully recovered from the oil price crash that took hold in 2014 – 2015. At the beginning of 2020, Nigeria’s 2020 budget indicators were as follows: an oil production volume of 2.18 million barrel per day, oil benchmark of $57, N305 exchange rate to the US dollar, GDP growth rate of 2.93 per cent, and inflation rate of 10.81 per cent now are currently out of reach due to this pandemic. As at August 2020, COVID 19 has negated all the above parameters. Crude Oil prices crashed by 60 percent, the exchange rate has gone up so high that one US$ is about 460 Naira and oil production has declined due to the lockdown and criminality in the Niger Delta.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) estimates the losses linked to the collapse of the prices of the barrel at US$65 billion, of which up to US$19 billion losses are expected in Nigeria. For example, Nigeria has made its budget forecasts for the first quarter based on an assumption of the old price of a barrel at US$67. This price has now dropped by more than 50% (OECD Development Centre, 2020). The case of Nigeria sums up the situation of the countries depending on oil revenues in particular and raw materials in general, all of which must now reduce their revenues forecast for at least the first two quarters.

It is likely that the current crisis will hit states and their workers harder than it happened in 2016 because the lowest price then was $29 per barrel and it quickly moved up to $35 per barrel and continued climbing. But now experts say that oil price could fall to as low as $10 per barrel with the coronavirus and oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

This economic impact is not just in Nigeria. Other African countries are set to suffer, as well as the Middle-East, Asian and European countries. About $9 trillion was wiped off global equities in nine days as a result of the pandemic. The outbreak is estimated to be costing the shipping industry $350 million weekly in lost revenues, according to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). The global economy may be slipping into recession and Nigeria is set to receive the hit harder than ever. Economists have argued that Nigeria may experience its worst recession in four decades and if not well managed in the face of debt overhang servicing which is taking over 90 percent of government monthly revenue.

6.0 Strategies to Mitigate the Impact of COVID 19 on Human Security

In Nigeria, federal and state governments as well as some other stakeholders are taking proactive steps to curtail the spread of coronavirus throughout the country. As the country experiences a steady increase in the number of confirmed cases, movement restrictions and lockdown protocols are being instituted to adequately respond to the pandemic. These situational responses affect businesses including in their interactions with their relevant regulators. Some of the strategies to curb the impact would include institutionalization of disease early warning systems in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. The early warning mechanism would serve as proactive preventive measures. It is also important for government to ensure that the citizens of Nigeria buy into whatever effort is being made. Across the country, citizens have expressed their lack of faith and trust in government in the way it has managed the pandemic. The trust deficit suffered by all tiers of government in Nigeria is making it difficult for the some citizens to even believe that COVID 19 is in Nigeria. It is therefore important for the government to provide strategic communication that will win the hearts and minds of the citizens to buy into the measures and protocols emplaced. The Nigerian government needs to understand the clear distinction between prevention and mitigation of pandemic and epidemic. Undue attention has been given to mitigation and very little focus on prevention. Pandemic prevention strategy involves provision of infrastructure, potable water, electricity, town planning, safer and less congested schools, functional hospitals and employment for the people. The drawback of this approach is that when the next pandemic arrives, the country will start running helter skelter with little or no institutional memory to fall back on.

Another strategy to combat the effects of COVID 19 on human security is to truly make Nigerians the referent point of the security strategy and architecture. Oversize emphasis on physical security and law enforcement through the police and the military undercuts the importance of human security in Nigeria. COVID 19 has shamefully exposed the poor state of Nigeria’s health system and research capabilities. As at August 2020, no Nigerian university or research institution has publicly or secretly announce any headway in developing a COVID 19 vaccine. This is rather unfortunate and shameful that a country with over 150 universities and a plethora of research institutions receiving statutory funding lacks credible biotechnology capability. Among the 231 vaccine candidates that were in development none came from Nigeria. It is now imperative for Nigeria to recalibrate its biotechnology resources as a way of moving forward in dealing with diseases and pandemics. All stakeholders both public and private need to come together to fund and support disease prevention and control research in Nigeria.

The FGN needs to actively engage in what is known as science diplomacy in order to enlist local and global entities to mitigate the effects of COVID 19. Science diplomacy entails collaborative efforts by local and global stakeholders to solve global problems using science, technology and innovation as a base.

7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations.

The Coronavirus disease has become a severe pandemic and poses many serious challenges at national, regional and global levels. The consequences, even if they are difficult to calculate for now, are expected to be enormous in view of the rapid spread of the Covid-19 and the drastic measures taken by countries whatever their size worldwide.

Even if African countries are relatively less affected compared to other regions for now, the spillover effects from global developments or broken supply chains may still lead to faltering economic activity. Indeed, the highly dependency of African economies vis-à-vis foreign economies predicts a negative economic spinoff for the continent, evaluated at an average loss of 1.5 points on economic growth 2020.

Besides, it is practically impossible for the continent to take an economic advantage of the wide spread of Covid-19 in other parts of the world, due to its inability to transform its raw materials to respond to the potential high demand of goods and services of the domestic and international markets. They may act as an additional constraint on Africa’s productive transformation, by making trade in value added more difficult.

Regardless of the scenario whether optimistic or pessimistic, Covid-19 will have a harmful socioeconomic effect on Africa. It is impossible to know how long the health crisis will last and how many people will be affected. At a relatively early stage of the epidemic in Nigeria, the economic impact has been very significant. The longer that measures have to be taken to contain the virus, and the stricter those measures, the greater their impact on the global economy.

Nigeria is among the frontline countries combating the COVID 19 and she has done relatively well with less than 1000 deaths and a little above 50,000 confirmed cases. The pandemic has impacted her economy negatively and affected human security in various ways such as curtailing their freedom of association, movement and even medical tourism abroad. Nigeria needs to rejig communication and her economy as well alleviate poverty which is threatening the citizens human security.

The socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis is real. It is therefore essential to inform the populations on the impact and advice policy-makers in order to better prepare and lessen the adverse impact of the pandemic. African countries are extremely exposed to external shocks. A paradigm shift is needed in order to change the trade patterns of African countries within themselves and with the rest of world particularly with China, Europe, USA and other emerging countries. Therefore, Nigeria should turn the current COVID-19 pandemic into an opportunity to translate the policy recommendations on productive transformation described in the Africa’s Development Dynamics (AfDD) 2019: Achieving Productive Transformation into a reality in order to create economies that are resilient to external shocks and achieve sustainable development. It is therefore recommended as follows:

1. The FGN should intensify the process of economic diversification. It is one practicable way to saddle through the current economic uncertainties and instabilities. Diversification priorities to alternative sectors such as agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing and services sectors, should be further intensified.
2. The FGN should engineer innovative ways of funding the health sector and boost investments that strengthen health systems to enable faster treatment and containment of diseases in the country.
3. The FGN should sign and ratify the African Medicine Agency (AMA) and establish regional public private partnerships to produce medical and pharmaceutical products in order to reduce Africa’s imports and ensure high quality control of the production.
4. Mobilize sufficient domestic resources for health to enable health systems to meet the needs in health services including elimination of high-burden diseases, prevention and management of outbreak, on the continent.
5. The FGN should step up preventive early warning system against pandemic and epidemics in the country.
6. The FGN should recalibrate Nigeria’s biotechnology capacity and systems.
7. The FGN should support and encourage local alternative medicines that could be integrated into orthodox medicine to mitigate epidemics and pandemics in the country.
8. Deliberate strategic communication by government and private sector to enlist the citizens buy in should be embarked on to nullify the trust deficit suffered by most government programmes in Nigeria.

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¹ (National Defence College Abuja Nigeria)

² {Department of Political Science & International Relations, Nile University of Nigeria}