COVID-19: Will Maigoro Survive?

COVID-19: Will Maigoro Survive ?

Maigoro is a poor fisherman man who dwell in a city named "..........". Utterly wretched! His house was built of mud hut. Before the sun rises and warms the sea, maigoro was already on his way to the river. He constantly hung his rag fishing net on his left arm, and on his right hand lies a basket contained with a small bowl. 

Maigoro manage to sail all day eastward of the river, struggling with his small fishing canoe, carved with few planks of drift wood held together. Poor maigoro could only get little and sometimes he hauled in his nets to find out there was not even a single fish caught in them.

Although, this was because his fishing nets were so frayed, and the holes in them was so large that a whole shoal of fish could have swum through them. On days like this, he returned home with an empty basket and so his wife and three children goes hungry. His last child who's just 3years old will sometimes cry of hunger all through the night.

At the some particular grey day, if maigoro gets little, he quickly sail back home and deliver them to his wife. She will step out the tiny rounded hut, lock the kids inside, and hurry up to trade the fishes at a nearby market. 

She would walk in the scorching sun, few kilometers away from their home, wearing her traditional dress with faded colours and her cheap black scarf thrown loosely around her head, carrying her slackly basket with four or three fishes contained in it. 

Quickly after sale, she arranges her basket before the red sun sink east, and uses the little money she earn to buy some food items along while returning back home from the market. These food items sometimes often service as means of survival for a day or two.

Genesis!!!

Like many other African countries, when you first heard about COVID-19 round December 2019, you didn't care to give it much thought, other than to whisper condolences to the people of China. You traveled in and out of the country regardless of this deadly virus. That was because you felt money could be the cure to everything. And when you come back, you never care to quarantine yourself. You are always on airplane traveling around, while maigoro have never been out of his city before. Maigoro knows nothing about traveling out of the country other than withing his locality.

Now you've contracted the virus from some country around the world and brought it back to your country. Poor maigoro didn't bring COVID-19 to Nigeria but you did. But today poor maigoro will be made to pay the price by staying at home without food. Hence you're so desperate to stop the spread, even if it means killing poor maigoro with police, soldiers and hunger.

The virus named COVID-19 has started walking and spreading rapidly around the neighborhood of Maigoro's city. Every other cities affected by the virus have imposed local laws of social distance and lockdown. This was on the aims to prevent further spread of the virus. 

In the evening, after performing the al-isha prayers. If the full moon is out, maigoro would sit on his traditional local made wooden sofa. Holding close to his ears a small radio, listening to the channel's which dicuss were majorly about the pandemic. The poor fisherman would always pray in his dialect for the virus never to locate it's way into the city where he inhabited.

"God forbid" but what if the virus eventually finds its way to maigoro's city, and the government imposes similar copy and paste approach from other cities, how would maigoro survive ?

Poor maigoro is only remembered during democratic elections. At That period only a modu of rice, satch of salt and 10 cubes of maggi was given to his wife. To him is offered a 500naira note to buy the vote of his entire family.

How would maigoro survive the lockdown ? Maigoro is only a poor labour class and daily earner. He doesn't receive salary nor does he receives a pension. A man with three children and one wife. Will maigoro continue to sit at home helplessly and watch his children cry of hunger everyday ? If maigoro could survive the battle of hunger with his stomach, then what about his wife and his children ?

Tears !!!

Sadly enough, if extreme hunger and starvation hits the poor fishermen and his family, by then he might be tempted to breach the laws by going out for his regular daily fishing activities. At that point you maybe convince to call maigoro an illiterate or probably enemy of the society.

You sit down at the comfort of your home calling maigoro an illiterate because he breach the laws of lockdown and social distance. When the month end, you receive an alert of salary been paid to you account, meanwhile maigoro does not. Yet, you call him an illiterate. You drive your car around the street to nearby shopping store to pick up provision for kids and wife. While maigoro sit helplessly everyday watching his children and lovely wife dying of hunger. You still call maigoro an illiterate. 

On your way home, you encounter some group of security personnel who happens to stop and interrogate you on the reasons why you are roaming the street with your vehicle, you pulled out little amount of money from your chest pocket and handed it over to them, immediately they pave the way for you. Maigoro dare not going out and if he does and been caught, he will be punished or probably arrested. Yet you still call maigoro an illiterate.

In the evening your wife dishes out delicious dinner for you, after feeding what next ? You pick up your Android phone, login your social media apps and then smile's are been played out from your face. That evening, maigoro would be tempted to knock the doors of his neighbors begging for food so that his children could feed before going to bed. Yet you still call maigoro an illiterate. 

As long as you have food in your mansion you will definitely believe extension of lockdown is good, and those who breach the laws are the Ignorant and illiterate. But by his grace I strongly believe no one will die without food during these lockdown and even the poorest of the poor will survive fairly.

More strategy!!!

I am not saying the lockdown is harsh or abnormal, perhaps I must aknowledge the fact that the lockdown have been one of best ways to prevent further spread of the virus. But what I am saying is this, the lockdown is inconsiderate, poorly planned and executed.

You cannot sought a total lockdown without thinking about the consequences for the daily wage earners, the street vendors and labourers. If the government doesn't consider woeful plight of the poor and daily wages labourers, then people people will die of hunger before the pandemic itself.

Pray for maigoro and his city!

By Balema Denja Abdulrazak, a member of Covid-19 Writers Movement