Surviving coronavirus, protesting the hunger virus

• Day some Abuja residents marched out to the street in desperation At the peak of the lockdown in Abuja, a group of menial labourers, traders and small business owners carried placards to beg for help to feed their families. With lockdown effectively over, the future is still bleak for this category of people.   […]

• Day some Abuja residents marched out to the street in desperation

At the peak of the lockdown in Abuja, a group of menial labourers, traders and small business owners carried placards to beg for help to feed their families.

With lockdown effectively over, the future is still bleak for this category of people.

 

It is no surprise that the dreaded coronavirus pandemic has forced several people out of jobs worldwide and also in Nigeria, where the disease was first recorded on February 27.

As of today, the country is closing in on12,000 confirmed cases and as the pandemic spread, the country took measures to curb the spread, including a five-week lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun.

This forced so many businesses to close and it is still not clear how small business owners are going to survive these difficult times.

One such person is Jenifer (not real name) who runs a point and kill business in Jabi, Abuja. During the lockdown, she was one of the people who stood under the Setraco Overhead Bridge, carrying placards bemoaning a “hunger virus” that is more deadly than the coronavirus.

Jennifer said the lockdown had forced her to the roadside to beg for food for herself, her daughter and husband.

“I am working at a point and kill fish barbeque, but now, as a result of the coronavirus lockdown; my business has gone down,” she said, her voice wavering. “The reason I have been here for some days now, is that we don’t have much food in our house, it is only garri that we have been eating. We are soaking garri for weeks to consume.”

Without work for days, she and her family have been forced to ration the little they had.

“Yesterday, we had only pap. This morning we don’t have anything, even our diapers have finished. We don’t have anything to take care of the baby. So, we decided to come outside if people can come to our aid,” she said.

One of the persons with her is a young man who runs a laundry service. He too, did not want to be named. Like Jennifer, he had been forced to shut down his business due to the lockdown.

“This is like a Save Our Soul (SOS) to everyone, most of us, we survive daily on our activities, how we coexist with each other elsewhere.  So, what we did here is not a protest but how we can get people’s attention to come to our aid. We really need support,” he said.

The idea to come to the street, at the height of the lockdown, was to raise awareness about their need for food and support.

“We have families, even if we don’t have wives or children. Most people won’t understand when they see us here,” he said.

During the protest, a man driving by handed out a N500 note. The young laundry man appreciated the gesture but said, “There is no way we can survive with even a N1,000 in Nigeria today.”

But he is undettered because carrying placards and standing by the roadside is making their voices heard.

“For me, staying here is a kind of sending a message to Nigerians to come to our aid,” he said.

The street protest became necessary when they realised that because of fear of the virus, people are afraid to let them within hearing distance to even listen to them when they approach and in desperation, they turned to the street.

“We look within ourselves; we ask how we could make it easier for us. We can’t go to the streets to do what is not good to the society,” another protestor, who also did not want his name in print said. “So, we decided to bring this out so that it can help us ease our plight. We try our best so that we do it politely, so that it will not affect the society.”

Sadly, their protest drew little support from passers-by. That means they hardly got anything to quell the hunger that had driven them to the streets.

“Since morning, the money we got so far is about a thousand naira, just like that. They are not eager to help,” one of the protestors said. “We are hoping our voices would be heard so that the government would help us out. There is a virus called hunger virus,” he said.

Most of them are menial labourers who rely on their day wages to eat. Others are security guards.

Even though he has been paid what he referred to as a token by his employer, the situation he has found himself in had become increasingly unbearable.

“I am a security guard. My company has paid me, I appreciate them. But they did not pay us in full because of the lockdown caused by the coronavirus,” he said. “Also, the prices of food commodities have increased, a mudu of rice that they have been selling at N500 is now N700 or more. With the little token that they gave me, it is difficult to cope with the situation. I have a family that I look after even though I am not yet married. But I have a family that I cater for. When I get something, I use to send to them.

Many of the protestors spoken to said they have only heard rumours of the palliative being given out by the government to indigent citizens but none of them have seen anything of it.

But with the lockdown eased by the government, the sad reality is that as many businesses reopen, there will be more job cuts and owners of small businesses will struggle to stay afloat. All this means that the hunger virus this people protested against will linger for a while yet.