This period is indeed a challenging moment for almost every nation of the world. This is particularly so due to the emergence of a never seen kind of pandemic, that is, the covid-19 disease. This disease has kept virtually the whole world at standstill and have disrupted almost all activity of man.
At this point, the international community is desperately in search of remedy to the deadly covid-19 disease which has infected over three million persons and led to the death of over two hundred thousand persons globally. Unlike every nation of the world, Nigeria has had its own share of the devastating effects of the pandemic. The government has since joined the fight against the pandemic within it shores and have rolled out various guidelines and interventions in curbing the spread of the disease. There has been a lot of mixed feeling bothering the Federal Government’s response to the fight against disease, although some have hailed the government’s response, some others have faulted it in one way or the other. In the midst of all these, If I were the President of Nigeria at this this what would I do?

Firstly, I will lead the fight against this pandemic from the front. Leadership to me has more to do with sacrifices than the privileges that comes with the office of the President. If I am willing to enjoy the privileges, I must be ready to make the sacrifices. Most global leaders has risen to the occasion by leading the fight against this deadly pandemic in their respective countries. Leaders like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson (who himself has fallen victim to the disease) are few examples of leaders who have taken the bull by the horn. If I was President, I will head the Presidential task force against the covid-19 and will directly coordinate and supervise all activities involved in the fight against pandemic.

In the early stages of the outbreak of this disease it was proven that the virus spreads through human contact with infected persons or surfaces. The safest thing to do at the point where cases of the diseases has been reported in several nations outside the country where it was first discovered (that is Wuhan China) would have been to immediately restrict entry into the country. Since some patients of the covid-19 disease are asymptomatic, an immediate shut down of the country’s borders would have been ideal, knowing how fast people migrate and knowing that temperature checks at airports will not be adequate in detecting a covid-19 positive patient. The shutdown of the country’s borders definitely will have implications, however, it will accord us time to prepare ourselves better to handle migrants by effective testing, isolation and quarantine, where necessary.
If I were President, I would closely look inwards and stimulate a scientist voyage into developing locally made testing kits, vaccines and possible treatment for the covid-19 disease. I have always frowned at our over reliance on foreign interventions in situations such as this. I believe Nigeria is blessed with enormous potentials. We are blessed with brains that can compete favourably on the global space. Why must we depend on foreign interventions when a Nigerian born doctor Obinna Igwilo broke a record in medicine by performing a successful robotic technology surgery. There are several other Nigerians doing absolutely well around the world especially in the area of science. This will be a wonderful opportunity for me to galvanize great Nigerian minds into creating solutions to man’s problem, enhancing our indigenous capacity and foreign appeal. Senegal has taken a lead in Africa to this regard by developing an early-detection mobile kits that tests for the corona virus. I believe that what Senegal can do, Nigeria can do better.

One other very important thing that will matter to me as President at this trying period is the welfare of poor and vulnerable Nigerians. Globally, lockdowns and stay at home orders have become the foremost strategies in curbing the spread of the pandemic. We may not be able to curb the spread of the disease if we do not urge people to stay at home and shut down all economic activities except those on essentials. However, as President, I would have prioritized providing stimulus packages and palliatives for poor and vulnerable Nigerians. The government of the day has cashed in on their conditional cash transfers as a sort of palliative for poor and vulnerable Nigerians during this period of lockdown. To me, this is grossly inadequate. The questions that quickly comes to mind is “how many poor and vulnerable Nigerians benefit from the scheme?” I also recognize that the crashing oil prices has had daring consequences on our national budget. I would have urged the National Assembly to immediately review the budget, eliminate frivolous budget items and allocate more funds to cater for more poor Nigerians many of whom have been denied asses to their means of daily income as a result of the stay at home orders. In addition to this, bailout funds will be made available to indigenous companies to help them cushion the economic effects of the pandemic on their businesses.

Finally, If I was President, I would use this opportunity to overhaul our health system. It is no longer news that our health system is in a pitiable and deplorable state. The Secretary of the Federal government Boss Mutusapha confessed to the fact that he never knew that our health infrastructure was in such a bad shape. Our leaders whom ought to had fixed it had often preferred seeking medical attention abroad, hence the neglect our health systems have suffered in the past. This era of the covid-19 pandemic would have been a very key period for me to mobilize resources and manpower to revamp our health care systems.
Having said all these, the reality of the whole matter is that I am not President at the moment. Hence, I can only hope and pray that the government gets it right going forward.

Who is going to read all this?

Please summarize in 3 sentences.

nice write up though, it takes patience to finish it, but it's worth the time

Buhari is the worst kind of leader to have during such crisis

Nice write up. The truth is that our leaders know the right things to do but, Greed, Nepotism has eaten deep into their lungs.

I still stand by my words: Our leaders don't practice what they preach