With the spread of the covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Government has issued a directive, enforcing a lockdown in some of the major cities in Nigeria where the virus has taken root and spread immensely” -ELIAS AYOBAMI.
This directive is in line with the statement issued by the President on the 29th of March, 2020, wherein he said;
“Based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, I am directing the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, 30th March, 2020. This restriction will also apply to Ogun State due to its close proximity to Lagos state and the high traffic between the two states.
All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes. Travel to or from other states should be postponed. All businesses and offices within these locations should be fully closed during this period.”
The implication of this on the Nigerian citizenry is that everyone is to stay at home in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus and ensure that we stay safe and uninfected.
This ‘stay home’ policy has however affected a number of youths as they have taken to twitter to express their opinions.
@kwame Obiri-Yeboah, tweeted
“seriously just one day and I see how expensive freedom can be, just wondering how people managed to go through war and others on their countries….#TheLockdown”
@CACCOT1 tweeted
“in a country like Nigeria where most people go out daily to stay strong & tactically fight against depression, lockdown/stay at home will trigger depression if it is too long. I pray divine strength for as many experiencing this at the moment. Just hang in there, you will win!”
Coupled with this, is the recent news of the Finance minister of Germany’s Hesse region who died from apparent suicide over corona virus worries.
The state governor, Volker Bouffier was quoted saying;
“Schaefer had worked literally day and night to deal with the COVID-19 crises. I have to assume that these concerns overwhelmed him. He obviously couldn’t find a way out. He was desperate and left us. His death is also a great loss for this country.”
With the already existing situation in Nigeria, the ‘stay home’ policy has really hit Nigerians hard, so the TellAfrica youngsters crew in collaboration with TellAfrica Heritage are set to make the best of this lock down period by coming up with a challenge to ensure that we remain productive, safe and most of all, alive and out of depression.
For now, you can follow the TellAfrica social media profiles – @TellAfricaNG on Twitter, TellAfrica.com on IG & Facebook or you can chat up Elias Ayobami @elias_ayobami on IG and @Ezra_Elias_A for updates on #TheLockdownChallenge.
Until then, wait on it!!
