Happy Mothers day to the beautiful mothers on Nairaland! Our children deserved to be raised in truth which is why I wrote this


Firstly, I want to clearly state that Covid-19 is real and Government advice on the situation should be adhered

That said

Can we Nigerians please stop sensationalising Covid-19 news as it is causing more harm than good?

The other day we read here how people in some states were overdosing on Choloroquine, that is what sensationalising news causes - fear mongering and mass panic. Also, some 70 year old lady in Enugu died of neglect at a dysfunctional isolation centre and this was because she was falsely diagnosed with Covid-19. She didn't deserve to leave this earth like that, haba

 
You and I were not there when advanced nations were eating fruit that has been so genetically modified, that it has less than 5% nutritional content of the natural version of itself. You were not there when they were eating beef from cow that has never eaten grass. You didn't think this unnatural eating could lead to weakened immune systems, but we are here crying louder than the bereaved and have also joined in their "national emergency measures", in a country of 200 million where a death from Covid-19 is yet to be reported


In reality, with zero deaths recorded your chances to contract anything related to Covid-19 is 1-in-200 million, I'll write it again in words in case you missed it - one-in-two hundred million, those are your chances. So for those odds, you are ready to shut yourself down when you don't have the holding out capacity the big boys have, you can't give out $1,000 per Nigerian like the US is thinking, but you can work yourself into a mass panic that is causing people to die from fear than of the virus itself, how does that help us?


Listen, don't join to push a narrative that was not written for you. This Covid-19 narrative is for advanced nations that have peaked in powers and even in their human capital, if not why are your siblings migrating to Canada to replenish their ageing population? Some of these countries have reached the peak of their growth curve and nature intends to flatten that curve. Over centuries of prosperity, they have accumulated enough resources to see them through this "Mediademic" sorry pandemic  , we haven't even gone through our industrial age, yet I'm reading some Nigerians calling for us to stay at home. At home for what? if Nigeria fully partakes in same measures with US, Italy and co., how long will it take us to recover financially? At least 3 years, and in that time your landlord will not pause your rent and neither will they pause the loan you are repaying. 


Let's be honest, this shows the extent social media can influence behaviour, and also people's gullibility. Especially when they add to your fear by advertising the virus with celebrities, mixed with pics of politicians elbow shaking


Let me tell what the media is not telling you, organisations, especially organisations with global operations are using this narrative to shed their staff strength and they'll do this mostly through migration of their physical resources online. This increased tilt to automation and technology will lead to more redundancies and lay-offs in the coming 3  - 6 months, just watch. If your workplace is going on lock down, ask your HR what will happen to all the fixed term staff in 3 months if lock down continues. Digitisation is one of the narratives as you will increasingly start seeing more acceptance of remote / home working and over reliance on digital work platforms.


Can you see the dangers of this narrative we are also pushing? For a virus that can never claim up to 9 lives here in Nigeria, is it really worth the fear you are propagating? Tuberculosis and HIV are killing Nigerians in the thousands yet you didn't stop your economy to eradicate it, but you can fear monger to a flu with no recorded deaths in a country where we eat Okpa for breakfast. The kids lying sick with TB in hospitals around Nigeria, I wonder how proud they are of your new social consciousness   especially as this attention is going to bring them support


Mothers are now not hugging kids because social media tells them so. But they were hugging these kids when we had Ebola and Lassa fever.


As we celebrate today, the mothers from whom we journeyed to this existence through, I'll like you to reflect on this, that - the Covid-19 mediademic, I mean pandemic, will only end when it is no longer headline news. It's just a matter of time before another Coza, Evans, Abba Kyari news etc. starts dominating social discussions. By then, the shift would have already happened and you would never know the role you played in influencing your new world.


But for now, I'll join the millions of other ignorant Nigerians who will be going out today, shaking hands, hugging and working productively so those gripped with fear at home, can have what to eat when they are typing up their socially conscious advice on social distancing and leg shaking