It is exactly two weeks now that you formally ordered a total lock down in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun States. Meanwhile, some businesses in the FCT have decided to close down at least a week even before the official declaration for total lockdown in the FCT. Therefore, for some individuals and business owners, this is the 3rd or 4th week at home. In any event, it is unarguable that the least time the residents of these three states have spent at home now under total lock down is two weeks. Total lockdown, we understand is needed to curtail the spread of COVID-19 and enable the government embark on an aggressive contact tracing. Needless to say that the total lockdown requires serious sacrifice from the rich and the poor, the leaders and the led, the political class as well as the masses.
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Idrinstitute.jpg")
![](https://thenigerialawyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024.lidw_.jpg")
Nobody, including Mr President, can claim ignorance of the consequent hardship this total lockdown would occasion. More so, Mr President, you wrote in Regulations 4(1) of COVID-19 Regulations 2020 thus: ‘We are fully aware that such measures will cause much hardship and inconvenience to many citizens…’ This therefore puts no one in doubt that this time around you are fully aware of the hardship and the inconvenience the lockdown would occasion. Thus, it is not out of place to suggest that being aware of the hardship and the inconvenience the lockdown would cause that made you provide for Relief Materials in Regulation 5 of COVID-19 Regulation 2020. For avoidance of doubt, in Regulation 5(1) of COVID-19 Regulations 2020 you wrote:
‘For residents of satellite and commuter towns and communities around Lagos and Abuja whose livelihoods will surely be affected by some of those restrictive measures, we shall deploy relief materials to ease their pains in the coming weeks.’
Again in Regulation 5(6) of the Regulation, you also wrote: ‘For the most vulnerable in our society, I have directed that the conditional cash transfers for the next two months be paid immediately. Our internally displaced persons will also receive two months of food rations in the coming weeks.’
It is being two weeks now Mr. President and all we have read in the news were allegations, accusations and counter-accusations concerning the manner in which the relief materials and the National Social Investment Programme are being handled. I think your directives in the COVID-19 Regulations are very clear. The conditional cash transfer which relates to the NSIP you directed to be paid to be beneficiaries in Regulation 5(6) of COVID-19 is not the same as the Relief Materials you directed to be deployed to the satellite and commuter towns and communities to ease the pain of those whose livelihood would be affected by the restrictive measures put in place. While the former (conditional cash transfer) is captured in Regulation 5(6), the latter (relief materials) is captured in Regulation 5(1) of COVID-19 Regulation 2020. So, now where is the relief materials Mr. President?
The first thing I need to point out is that there is a total lack of policies coordination and implementations in the efforts geared towards fighting this pandemic including the efforts to cushion the effect on the populace. The people you keep in charge of relief materials are lumping up issues and there are insinuations in many quarters that claiming they distributed some of the relief materials using the NSIP data already generated. The reality is that the NSIP predates COVID-19 and it is practically impossible for the NSIP data to have captured ‘those whose livelihoods’ are surely affected by the restrictive measures you put in place. Again, since you issued the COVID-19 Regulations 2020, there had not been data gathering with a view to identifying people ‘whose livelihoods’ are affected by the lockdown. Therefore, the people you put in charge of the palliative measures cannot lawfully and morally claim to have used the same NSIP data to distribute the relief materials you directed to be deployed in line with Regulation 5(1) of the Regulation.
Mr President you are aware of the hardship and the inconvenience this lock down has occasioned on many people. Many people depend on daily pay to feed their families, many have not been paid their salaries and many would be laid off even after COVID-19. Mr President, you and many of those you put in charge of the palliative measures are fed and clothed with taxpayers’ money, the money belonging collectively to everyone including those whose livelihoods are now affected. COVID-19 has disrupted many businesses, broken the supply chain and even affected many value chains. Many people already have their livelihoods affected by this lockdown; many of them have families and dependants. And where are the relief materials you promise them? Mr. President many of these people were there for you when you needed their votes. Are you there for them now that they need you? Today, they are in pain and what exactly is their gain? Where are the relief materials you promise them? Mr. President, where are the relief materials?
Kazeem A. Oyinwola writes from Abuja. He can be reached via kazeemoyinwola@gmail.com
NIALS' Compendia Series: Your One-Stop Solution For Navigating Nigerian Laws (2004-2023)
Email: info@nials.edu.ng, tugomak@yahoo.co.uk, Contact: For Inquiry and information, kindly contact, NIALS Director of Marketing: +2348074128732, +2348100363602.
