By Fredrick Nwabufo
Sir: The conundrum: Do we sustain the lockdown to contain coronavirus and risk the upsurge of insecurity and citizens’ unrest or do we lift the restrictions and find other means of controlling the spread of COVID-19?

For a country like Nigeria with complexities and unedifying socio-economic indices, imposing restrictions on movement for an extended period of time — asphyxiating the economy and pauperising small businesses – is Siberian. Lockdown measures are not sustainable.

As a matter of fact, some countries affected by coronavirus in Europe are beginning to realise that imposing lockdowns and shutting down economies, even though tad necessary, are reactive approaches.

On Monday, some workers in certain industries returned to duty after Spain lifted some lockdown measures in the country. CNBC reports that construction and factory workers in the Mediterranean country returned to work on Monday as the government lifted some of the most stringent lockdown measures.

Spain is one of the worst-hit nations by Covid-19.
In Sweden, the government is sticking to a ‘’low-scale’’ lockdown. According to Washington Post, Sweden’s softer approach ‘’means that schools for younger children, restaurants and most businesses are still open’’ though the country banned gatherings larger than 50 people, closed high schools and universities, and asked those over 70 or otherwise at greater risk from the virus to self-isolate.

Other European nations like Austria, Denmark and Czech Republic battling COVID-19 are considering easing lockdown measures.

Lockdown measures are not sustainable! They are at best a reactive approach to a hydra-headed problem. They can slow down the spread of COVID-19 – only for a while. But these measures cannot eliminate the spread of the disease or prevent re-infection.

We cannot import wholesale the approach of other countries, much more advanced than we are, without care for our own unique situation and expect things to work out.

Even with the lockdown in the past two weeks, we have done only about 6,000 COVID-19 tests while Ghana is shooting above 35,000 in the aggregate of tests conducted so far. Why?

Really, we cannot afford another round of lockdown measures. The current insecurity in Lagos and Ogun will escalate and engulf more states. I am surprised the president did not address this pesky issue in his speech.

I had thought the president would roll out other plausible measures with strict enforcement such as......
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