Editorial

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA: MYTHS, FACTS AND UNTOLD STORIES

Published

3 years ago

December 30, 2021

By Ernest Ogezi

The Covid-19 pandemic was undoubtedly one global contagion that took the world by storm. In this feature, Chidi Matthew Nwachukwu takes a look at the chequered events that played out in Nigeria.

The wave generated by the incursion of the Covid-19 pandemic may have attenuated, but the traces of its aftermath will certainly not vanish in a short while. The coronavirus pandemic, just like the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Ebola, threw the world into pandemonium that literally destabilized everyone, including those who hitherto thought they had been prepared for the worst kinds of natural and man-induced disturbances.

The world was shut down, and the human community was forced into hibernation, to at least give room for proper management of the crisis. Advanced health technologies were quickly applied to the situation to try to quell it, and all hands came on deck to fight the raging scourge which seemed hell-bent on wiping out the human population. In Europe, America, Asia and Australia, the impact of the pandemic was far more threatening than it was in Africa, a fact that many attributed to the temperate nature of those regions.

As is the norm, Nigerians advanced all kinds of theories about the pandemic even as international health organizations continued with their ad-nauseam sensitization campaigns on the facts and nature of the pestilence. And as the scourge raged, Nigerians became even more indifferent to the disturbing and threatening developments and were not bothered about the debilitating impact of the pandemic.

There was widespread doubt about the severity of the plague, and many Nigerians who gave their opinion on the matter insinuated that the issue was merely a ploy by the western world to spread fear amongst people. A commercial cyclist once asked rhetorically why none of his distant or close relatives ever succumbed to the pandemic, despite their not adhering to the Covid-19 rules of physical distancing, washing of hands and wearing of masks.

Mildred Ozokwor, a thorough-bred clinical psychologist, studied the behaviour of Nigerians during the Covid pandemic and made this observation: “Fact is, there are certain peculiarities about Nigerians that define them in very intricate terms. They just have their ways of perceiving things which is not common with people from other climes. They could decide to believe a certain theory (whether it is proven or not), and jettison another (even if everyone else believes it), and that was what determined their reactions to the developments that chequered the Covid period.”

And in utter dismay over how Nigerians flouted the stay-at-home order of the federal government, Andy Chikwe, a public affairs analyst, expressed his thoughts thus: “During last year’s Covid scourge, the federal government of Nigeria issued a stay-at-home order mandating everyone to stay indoors while measures were being put in place to curb the Covid menace, but many Nigerians surprisingly didn’t comply with the instruction as they went about their normal businesses.

“During that period, both the young and the old went on exercise sprees as they occupied the less-busy tarred roads and even the highways working out. In Lagos State, a task force was set up to apprehend defaulters of the ‘stay-at-home’ order, which was a move that was also replicated in the Federal Capital Territory and a few other states. That was an expedient decision that the authorities had to take to ensure that the pandemic didn’t escalate beyond proportion.”

But from a contrasting perspective, Arthur Rex-Fabiyi, a public affairs analyst, argued that there was no sense in compelling the people to stay at home when provisions were not made for them to obediently adhere to such a tall order. For him, the government of Nigeria did not have to replicate the measures being adopted by the other countries that have been able to set up stable systems that could support such expediencies.

He opined that the government ought to have looked inwards to find home-spun solutions to the country’s peculiar needs at that time. He maintained that the daily-earners who make up a large chunk of the country’s working population were the worst hit by the stay-at-home order. He then concluded by suggesting that the government ought to have ensured that the palliatives which were only handed to a select few were evenly distributed.

Now, many other opinion-holders have attributed Nigerians’ nonchalance to the issues of the Corona Virus disease to several reasons of which misinformation was primary. They opined that a large chunk of the information that dominated public space during the heat of the pandemic was erroneous and that the people were not disposed to verifying them before accepting them as true. For instance, rumours went around at that time that consuming highly-ethanoic beverages could prevent and even cure the Corona Virus disease, and many people believed it and then went on to binge on brandies, whiskies and some other strong alcohols without verifying the information. Some believed that consuming certain herbal and traditional condiments could prevent and cure the Corona Virus disease even after the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had issued stern warnings against such actions.

Then, there were the religious communities that admonished their members not to fear and believe in the existence of the Corona Virus disease. They kicked strongly against the stay-at-home order since it prevented their members and adherents from gathering in large numbers, as was the practice before the advent of the pandemic. They found themselves almost going over the edge in rebelling against a federal order, but yet managed to get hold of their emotions and adhere to the big fiat for obvious reasons.

And part of the twists and turns that chequered the Covid period was the blatant refusal of some Nigerians to wear a facemask for several unimaginable reasons. For instance, a great percentage of those who went shopping at the local markets during the pandemic never wore facemasks. They only wore it when they knew that there would be penalties for not wearing it. Some claimed that facemasks prevented them from breathing well, while others outrightly didn’t subscribe to wearing a mask as they held the opinion that the pandemic was a scam and non-existent.

Those who contemplated the veracity of the pandemic were further emboldened when some of the predictions made about the anticipated fatality and mortality rates for Africa did not eventually follow through. It would be recalled that Melinda Gates, ex-wife of US billionaire, Bill Gates, predicted last year that Africa would be so hard hit by the pandemic that people would die in their numbers as their corpses would litter the streets, but that prediction did not exactly roll out as was expected. The fatality rate that ended up hitting Africa was not even up to a quarter of the deaths that ravaged Europe, America, Asia and elsewhere.

Those were some of the vagaries that chequered the Covid period in Nigeria.

And as the heat of the pandemic has attenuated to the point where human activities have resumed across the globe, there are still concerns that the pandemic may resurface if proper checks and balances are not put in place. Many countries that foreclosed the possibility of a resurgence of the pandemic paid dearly for their folly and short-sightedness. India and China, for instance, did not envisage the reappearing of the pandemic on their soils, and thus ended up with another bout of casualties even while other countries made actual progress in their management of the pandemic.

Then, a major highlight of the Covid-19 story was the production of vaccines which happened very promptly as the situation warranted. But then, there still came up so many conspiracy theories about the vaccines and what they were meant for. Some rather chose to believe that the vaccines were hurriedly synthesized to be used as a means to introduce certain catalytic and toxic substances into the body of humans so that in the end, human lives would be truncated rather than elongated. And for the above-stated reason, many unsuspecting people jettisoned the life-saving vaccine and chose rather die than get the jabs.

Added to the population of gullible people are those who for the sake of their faith, refused to get vaccinated. It was on account of these developments that stakeholders in the sector entered into a partnership with the media to sensitize the people and give them a reorientation about the vaccines. This remedial measure had to involve the traditional institutions under which many of those who rejected vaccination fall.

The Covid-19 story will not be complete with the inclusion of the role played by the international community in helping the African continent manage the pandemic more effectively. Perhaps the scourge would have had a worse toll on Africa if the western world and other humanitarian organizations had not intervened in the swift manner they did. Lots of vaccines were donated by several international health organizations, and financial supports (grants and soft loans) were also doled out to African nations according to the peculiarity of their needs.

Related Topics:Accessmagazine Accessnews Covid-19

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Editorial

NITDA Framework on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for the ICT Sector and the Prospects of Ethical, Time-bound Resolutions

Published

3 years ago

March 9, 2022

AccessNewsNG

“An ounce of mediation is worth a pound of arbitration and a ton of litigation” __ Joseph
Grynbaum

By Ernest Ogezi

Everyday online transactions within and across international borders continue to
grow in intensity and complexity. The nature of ICT makes the world borderless,
therefore disputes pertaining to trade and Intellectual property rights such as
patents, trademarks, copy-rights – including software – or know-how, can quickly
spiral into complex legal situation. ICT disputes are multifaceted as they are
technical; for this reason, when parties to ICT transactions get involved in
conflicts, the most important thing to do is find a time- and cost-effective manner
to resolve the issues in order to avoid disruption of technology development,
investment and consumer interests. Conventional courts are not often well
equipped to handle the intricacies because conflicts are complex and require
expertise.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, including mediation, arbitration
expedited arbitration and expert determination, offer parties and their lawyers high-
quality, efficient and cost-effective ways to resolve their ICT disputes out of court,
especially contractual disputes involving parties from different jurisdictions. Some
important advantages of ADR are neutrality and expertise. In neutrality, ADR
assumes a neutral law, language and institutional culture of all parties, taking away
the home court advantage that would have been enjoyed by parties in court-based
litigation. Expertise borders on achieving high-quality solutions in ICT disputes
where judges may have the relevant knowledge in key areas. Parties can appoint
arbitrators, mediators or experts with specific proficiency in the relevant legal,
technical or business area.

Delay in the resolution of ICT conflicts has the ability of putting a whole project at
risk. This underpins the importance of economically viable and time-bound
resolution of conflicts. ADR mechanisms provide short and specific timelines
which the parties can further adapt. Mechanisms like the expedited arbitration fast-
track actions to achieve even faster solutions. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
helps avoid the expense and complexity of multi-jurisdictional legislation and the
risk of inconsistent result by allowing parties to settle in a single procedure.

According to Statista, the number of internet users in Nigeria as at 2020 had
reached 99.05 million. The business ecosystem within the Nigerian cyberspace is
bolstering and a lot of social entrepreneurs are emerging, offering service and
product transactions to a variety of customers or consumers. International online
transactions are also growing in Nigeria. It is inevitable that conflicts will result as
a result of the use of the internet and, Information and Communication Technology
(ICT). But conflicts occur, it is necessary to follow expert, time- and cost-effective
procedure for resolution.

Nigeria’s judicial system is currently ill-equipped to handle disputes relating to
parties in an ICT setting, litigations can be very expensive while judges and
lawyers lack the requisite technical expertise to litigate ICT-related conflicts. This
is what informed the development of the framework on Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) developed by the National Information Technology
Development Agency (NITDA). The ADR Framework defines “ICT Conflict
Prevention” as a body that ensures that conflicts in an agreement or ongoing ICT
projects are identified at an early stage, resolved and prevented from escalating
further. Within the NITDA ADR framework ICT disputes “refers to disagreements
between parties who agreed concerning hardware (computer components and
peripheral devices), software, IT consultancy, cloud services or internet services.”
The elaborate ADR framework also encapsulates the establishment of Online
Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. The ODR platform is seen as the most
innovative and interesting aspect of the ADR given that it is an online dispute
resolution platform. The ODR platform allows for resolving of ICT disputes online
from filling, neutral appointment of arbitrators, online discussions and rendering of
binding settlements.

The ADR framework has provision for the establishment of a body specialized in
the field of organization and ICT and made up of experts in IT conflict
management that will offer ADR options to resolve and where necessary settle
disputes in ICT related matters. The objectives of the body are:
i. To inform the respondent party about the complaint with the aim of settling
the dispute between parties. The body shall provide an electronic complaint
form to the parties.
ii. To enhance cross border transactions and market integration online while
providing means of resolving disputes where it arises in the course of a
transaction.

iii. To provide the parties and ADR entity with the translation of information
which is necessary for the resolution of ICT disputes
iv. To make online transactions safer and fairer through access to dispute
resolution tools by providing a feedback system that allows the parties to
express their views on the functioning of the ODR platform.
v. To make publicly available general information on ADR as a means of out-
of-court dispute resolution mechanism and to provide information on how to
submit complaints through the ODR platform.

A complaint is valid to the extent that the ICT agreement initially contained
arbitration clause accepting that all disputes should be resolved by the agency or
parties voluntarily consent to applying ADR to resolve ICT disputes. The
complaining party must fill in the electronic complaint form and ensure that the
there is sufficient information as to the cause of the dispute. Data processed
through the electronic complaint form and its attachment must be accurate,
relevant, and not excessive.

The ADR Framework will also incorporate the Data Protection Regulation 2019 in
the access, collection and processing of users for dispute management and
resolution. Strict confidentiality and appropriate technical and organizational
measures to ensure information security within the ADR body and the online
dispute resolution platform.

Through the scope and applicability of the ADR framework NITDA will be able to
resolve all technical, commercial or legal conflicts and apply to disputes on
contractual obligations stemming from hardware and software transactions,
consultancy, telecommunication the internet, online sales and service contracts
between consumers within Nigeria and a trade established in Nigeria using the internet services.

Editorial

Healthy Eating and Detoxification (After the Celebration)

Published

3 years ago

January 3, 2022

AccessNewsNG

By Derrick Bangura

Do you frequently feel tired, sluggish and bloated? Does your hair look dull and dishevelled? Does your skin lack sparkle and is the waistband on your jeans a little too tight for comfort? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, is that, too often, it could be a sign that your system is in desperate need of a spring clean.

So many people find cleanses and detox appealing as a way to reaffirm a commitment to healthy eating. While I certainly understand the desired dial down cravings for sweets and processed foods and create a pathway toward eating well over the long haul, the trouble I see with juicing and other similar cleanses is that too often, they leave people hungry, sluggish and distracted by constant thoughts of food. Cleansing can also lead to unwanted issues, like constipation (from lack of fibre) and bloating (due to excess fructose from juice cleanses).

You don’t need to take specific foods to detox your body. You have organs (like your liver) that are specifically designed to remove toxins.

But some foods are important components of a balanced diet that will help keep your detoxification system healthy.

What are the best detoxing foods?

There are no specific “detoxing foods” but the food is important to your natural detoxification systems.

In addition to eating a balanced diet, you can always support your body by exercising, avoiding the intake of toxins by limiting them is pertinent, chief among these toxins are alcohol and cigarettes.

The human body is designed to purify itself. You can help by drinking plenty of water and limiting highly processed, fatty, and sugary foods.

It is normal for anyone to engage in a “Detox Diet”. It encourages you to eat natural foods and veggies.

The main idea behind detox and cleanse diets is to purify and purge the body of the “bad” stuff that can cause problems like tiredness, headaches, and nausea. But the human body is designed to purify itself and there is no evidence that a detox diet works.

Editorial

Of Major Infernos and response systems: Are the firefighting infrastructure adequate?

Published

3 years ago

January 3, 2022

AccessNewsNG

By Matthew Eloyi

It may seem as though fire outbreaks in popular markets and supermarkets across Nigeria on annual basis have become rituals and sometimes the probes into the reasons for the tragedies are never revealed nor reported.

The 26^th of December 2021 was a black Boxing Day for the management, staff and customers of the popular multi-purpose supermarket, Next Cash and Carry, located along Ahmadu Bello Way, Kado-Kuchi area of Jahi-Kado expressway, Abuja as the shopping centre was gutted by fire which started in the early hours of the Boxing Day.

According to reports, the fire which started around 8:00 AM was caused by an electrical surge that started from the administrative section of the supermarket. It was also reported that the Fire Service of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Federal Fire Service, fire units of the Nigerian Navy and Guards Brigade, as well as fire trucks from Julius Berger Plc made efforts to extinguish the fire. The staff of the shopping mall, however, alleged that personnel of the Fire Service arrived at the scene late.

What makes it more worrisome is that the incident occurred just a few months after another multi-million-naira shopping centre, Ebeano Supermarket, located in Lokogoma, Abuja, was razed by fire. More losses have been noted from similar fire outbreaks in many other commercial premises and supermarkets. Reported cases in different parts of the country have continued to strain our memories.

Commendable as the efforts of the firefighters were, one may be tempted to ask if the firefighting infrastructure and systems were not as effective as they should be. The General Manager of Next Cash and Carry, Pape Neil, in a post on his official Facebook page had maintained that the store was built and operated according to international standards, adding that the roof was fireproof and that it had a competent Firefighting truck in Abuja which has assisted the fire service in fire incidents in Abuja in the past, as well as fire extinguishers and fire hose reels connected to the hydrant, and placed in strategic positions all within the store under the FCT Fire service supervision. He added that the FCT Fire service conducts quarterly fire outbreak training for all staff & certifies all its operations.

The big question is: if all of the facilities mentioned above were as effective as should be, why did such an inferno engulf the supermarket, destroying goods worth millions of naira without being averted? Well, the Management of Next Cash and Carry Supermarket has called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire outbreak at the store. In response, the Honourable Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello noted that an investigation was already ongoing to determine the cause of the fire incident to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident in any other establishment within the FCT. Until then, the real cause of the fire outbreak remains unknown. But one certain thing is that our firefighting response systems, technologies and infrastructure need to be improved drastically.