Nigeria vs Corona virus part 2. What is a failed State ?
This piece is sequence to my article on Corona Virus Vs Nigeria published on 26 March 2020.
A failed State is defined as a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly.
There is no doubt that Nigerian government is no longer functioning properly and we have just been fortunate that Covid 19 pandemic has little effect in Nigeria that has nothing to do with the efforts of the government, Perhaps our DNA or our weather as noted in all African countries in general are helpful and most importantly the mercies of God that has not allowed the virus to ravage our country.
Nigeria government made it mandatory that all her citizens in diaspora and foreign nationals returning or visiting Nigeria must do Covid test also known as Covid -19 International Traveller Test. initially , the negative test certificate is valid for120 hours maximum at the time of arrival in Nigeria and from 29 December 2020 reduced to 96 hours Negative test certificate on arrival in Nigeria.
It is also compulsory that they must present themselves for another test at least 7 days of arrival in Nigeria and a pre booking certificate must be obtained and shown at the Airport to confirm that a booking has been made in Nigeria to do the test. A fee between Forty thousand and Fifty thousand Naira must be paid for this test .
The writer of this article complied with this requirement and made the payment and the booking before arriving in Nigeria in December . There was only one private test centre in Ibadan known as ‘Medicaid Radio Diagnostics’ located at an obscure address which was totally different from the address provided on the websites where booking was made . The headquarter of Medicaid Radio Diagnostics is in Abuja and they have a branch in Ibadan. Many people tried to locate the address which was not existing and returned home without finding the centre. They asked people around the place and no one knows the location and even when asked directions at a nearby hospital around the provided address , we were told that it is a scam address because it is not existing .
By sheer determination, the writer of this article continued to search and found one hospital owned by former first lady of Oyo State , Mrs Florence Ajimobi where we were informed that it is the right place for the test . This was just a random check that we made, when question was put to the lady who took the sample for the test , she confirmed that they do not have a place of their own and that, that place was rented until they can put up a structure of their own. She was unable to explain why a misleading address was provided and what will happen to those who cannot find the place.
We did the test eventually on 12 December 2020 and till date we have not received the test result.
Other people whom we gave information as per the location went there to do the test confirmed the same story that they have not received their test result back 2 weeks after the test was conducted. We have returned to the UK without receiving the results and yet we paid money for it and did the test. It is clearly stated on the website that, diplomats and children under ten years old are not required to pay money for the test but medicaid insisted that children under 10 must pay and they forced parent to cough out money to pay for children under 10 years. Many times and despite providing confirmation from the bank that payment has been made, people are told that banks have not remmitted money to them and they have to pay another money.
The Nigerian government has rolled out names of the people to be penalised for not taking the test in Nigeria without finding out the reasons as to why they were unable to do it . No penalty was meted out to the test centre who provided wrong address and collected money from the people , no penalty for the test centre who failed to provide results of the test that has been done. In reality, there is no monitoring body to monitor that the test centre are complying and maintaining standard.
The writer was not affected in any sense but for those who have been erroneously penalised for paying and not attending the the centre, the penalty of not been allowed to travel for 6 Months is draconian and unfair. The government needs to conduct internal investigation first before penalising innocent people , the government as usual is putting the cart before the Horse . What a country? What a government ? What a administrative failure?
I laughed when I read that the Lagos State government vow to decertify the passports of some Nigerians who failed to conduct the test, a power that the state did not have. It shows lack of seriousness and lack of understanding of the issue. The Nigerian passport was issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria and no State has the power to decertify it.
Nigeria is truly a failed state particularly under this regime and the Lagos State government is part of the failed State. The killings of the innocent demonstrators at Lekki during the endsars protests is a good example of a failed State. No one has accepted responsibility till date. The auction of vehicle siezed from innocent Nigerians who made mistake of driving on one way is another good example of the arbitrary used of power of the State Governor , Perhaps Governor Sanwo Olu will do well to learn from his predecessors who have made tremendous impact as governors of Lagos State.
The federal government was not worried or show concerns that palliative that are meant for the people are found in private houses. The Federal government has failed to stipulate any penalty for those who failed to distribute the palliative. The Federal government has claimed to spend huge amount of money to cushion the effects of Covid 19 on the people but the people have not felt the impact and did not know where the money went.
I salute the courage and determination of the people in Nigeria. They have endured for too long, this regime under PMB is destroying the lives of the people. We do not know the actual data of those who are covid positive and those who have died from it . The government officials are just making Parrotic statements of what they heard from the western world media. No provision for anything. The Federal government system under PMB is a vampire and they are sucking the blood of the masses to feed themselves as they have insatiable appetite.
Who will deliver us from this government and set us on the right part where transparency will be a normal thing, where the government will be accountable to those who put them there , where the people in power will realise that they are in power because people give them power and that people can take it back where there is arbitrary use of power.
We need an egalitarian society where lives of people matters, where equality is norm and the sanctity of human lives is valued. We want a country where the rulers have fear of God and rule with justice. We need a leader who knows what it means to be a leader.
Despite the fact that Nigeiria is now declared a failed State, there still can be positive change, we may have repeated classes and failed to make progress, yet it is never too late for the government to retrace its steps and make positive changes in its approach to governance.
The unwholesome federalism and the obnoxious constitution need to be reviewed. Nigeria needs to be restructured and without this, there can be no meaningful progress. I have spoken.
Niyi Aborisade is a legal practioner in the UK and the president of National Movement for Positive Change
