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COVID-19: Does Plateau need a total lockdown now? -By Labaran Yusuf

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Governor of Plateau State

Governor Simon Lalong’s plan to totally lockdown Plateau state for a week is a case of what many people view as a misplaced priority. Many are already asking: why lock people home for a mere fumigation exercise, after already closing their businesses for almost two weeks now?

People, especially those living on daily hand-to-mouth jobs, were expecting the governor to announce the lifting of some already imposed restrictions. Then all of a sudden, the governor announced a week-long total lockdown in order for authorities to carry out what he termed a state-wide fumigation exercise.

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This is while the Plateau state government is yet to announce any palliative measures to cushion the effect of the lockdown, which will certainly bring untold hardships to the poor and needy citizens of the state. Already, many hand-to-mouth labourers have been turned into beggars, while others have turned to a life of crime to survive.

It is understandable that Lagos, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, and a few other states with significant cases of COVID-19 are under lockdown. But ordering a total lockdown on the Plateau, a state that hasn’t yet recorded even a single case of COVID-19, is somewhat needless at the moment.

Yes, we know prevention is better than cure. But wouldn’t the closing of borders with neighbouring states coupled with other social distancing measures suffice, as adopted by other states instead of a total lockdown? No doubt coronavirus is real and certain preventive measures need to be put in place to curb its spread. But the problem is that there is a much bigger and deadlier killer everybody knows in this country – which is called hunger. And it seems Plateau state’s citizens are now stranded between the devil (coronavirus) and the deep blue sea (hunger).

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The governor needs to review this total lockdown before the vulnerable in the society face more hardships.

Labaran Yusuf wrote this piece from Jos, Plateau State.

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