Respiratory diseases come with a lot of challenges primed by their virulent factors as described by public health experts. After the first outbreak of the devastating strain of the corona virus referred to as COVID-19 surfaced in November 2019, it has spread like wild fire, with Italy being the hardest hit after its native milieu, China. Unlike other viral infections of the respiratory predilection, the COVID-19, with a lower mortality rate has caused major ripples globally.
While the World Health Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations that is concerned with the world’s public health was reluctant to declare it a full-blown pandemic (A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide.) there is no denying the fact that in plain terms it is a pandemic.
Quite particularly, a meme
(joke) by two white men having a swinging conversation, on the popular social
media channel, Twitter, caught my attention. It was in reference to the
Europeans’ attitude towards issues of concern. Firstly, an outright denial of
its existence, what follows is playing down the possibility of its attack, then
an effort to double down on its impact and lastly an acknowledgement of the
foolishness of the previous succession of actions.
A keen follower of
global events would see that the chain of events has not been any different.
While there has not been a shortage of conspiracy theories from the
insinuations that it was an intentionally developed biological weapon set out
to decimate the world’s population to the micro specification that the United
States’ government has a hand in its development to clamp down on China and its
fanning influence on the global economy, the Africans are not left out of the
unempirical show of wits; about how it is a Caucasian and
white-skinned-specific apposite of the viral haemorrhaging fever, Ebola virus,
which is non-specific to the black skinned. But with the reported infection of
Chelsea FC’s teenage footballer, Callum Hudson Odoi, and some other black-skinned
infected, such an unfounded fallacy has been binned for a more robust
discussion.
In the financial market,
the COVID-19 spread was fitted into its proper place like other Black Swan
Events, which caused great panic. Like in the past, the spread of the virus
across Europe and the Asian markets plunged not just the value of commodities
but also affected the price of safe heaven assets like gold, with the yellow
metal dropping to a three-month low on the market. The FTSE 100, the UK’s main
market index lost 10% of its value in a trading day, seeing its steepest
decline since 1987. According to a BBC reportage, this is ‘’despite actions by
the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank to ease financial strains’’. The
US government’s attempt to buffer the dollar’s strength saw it lose billions of
its currency value in less than an hour. The price of oil in the global oil
market was not spared. In a report, the Oil prices suffered their biggest fall
in thirty years, akin to the time when American forces launched air strikes on
Iraqi troops following their invasion of Kuwait.
Patronage in retail
outlets have tanked, with online retail stores recording massive sales volume
at breakneck speed. However, the victims have been restaurant and retail food
outlets who have closed shops in popular Chinese and Italian towns. Government
revenue from tourism suffered the most with ban in public gathering in
countries where the pandemic has festered. Most football and sport competitions
have been placed on hold, with the often obstinate British football regulatory
agencies following suit. Airlines are not spared of the scourge, with ticket
price at its lowest ebb and imposed travel restrictions from countries with
severe cases like the most of Europe and Asia.
Africa has recorded minute
cases, Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been reckoned with as
one of the best global disease management centre. One that has been proactive
rather than reactive as seen in places like the US where citizens loot
isolation centres, leaving them running short of medical supplies like gloves,
face mask and tissue papers. Nigeria’s index case was quickly taken into
isolation and treated as an emergency, and it’s spread can be said at present
to be contained. The second case according to the authorities has been said to
have been certified negative. While the world battles, Nigeria might have
scored another first in its epidemic management and control without due credit
as like other occasions, but is Africa safe from the crippling effect of the
virus?
Buhari’s flailing
Naira
In all these one begs
answers for the sudden tanking of the Nigerian Naira. With economically
repressive policies and the failure of the Buhari administration to allow for
the prevalence of market-driven forces in the determination of exchange rates,
the naira is at the mercy of speculators like in mid-2015 till early 2016 when
it gained mild stability.
The long-held deception
about Nigeria’s growth being driven by non-oil sectoral activities was quickly
exposed as the price of oil – Nigeria’s monolithic revenue source – fell below
the benchmarked budgeted price. With the global price of oil falling about 55%
of the benchmarked price, Nigeria stands a risk of another recession especially
with the outmoded and egocentric decision to protect rather than devalue the
Naira.
As a knock-on effect, the
first casualty was the foreign reserves which fell from $44 billion to $38
billion (13% of its worth) in less than a week. The black market, operated by
the Bureau de Change owners, which has been the go-to source of foreign
exchange for small and medium business owners – no thanks to the conspiracy of
the mainstream commercial banks – led on. In Abuja, as early as 10 am on
Wednesday, the ‘’aboki’’ on the street had already pegged his dollar at N420
from the N355.
Respiratory diseases come
with a lot of challenges primed by their virulent factors as described by
public health experts. After the first outbreak of the devastating strain of
the corona virus referred to as COVID-19 surfaced in November 2019, it has
spread like wild fire, with Italy being the hardest hit after its native
milieu, China. Unlike other viral infections of the respiratory predilection,
the COVID-19, with a lower mortality rate has caused major ripples globally.
While the World
Health Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations that is
concerned with the world’s public health was reluctant to declare it a
full-blown pandemic (A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a
large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide.) there is no
denying the fact that in plain terms it is a pandemic.
Quite particularly, a meme
(joke) by two white men having a swinging conversation, on the popular social
media channel, Twitter, caught my attention. It was in reference to the
Europeans’ attitude towards issues of concern. Firstly, an outright denial of
its existence, what follows is playing down the possibility of its attack, then
an effort to double down on its impact and lastly an acknowledgement of the
foolishness of the previous succession of actions.
A keen follower of
global events would see that the chain of events has not been any different.
While there has not been a shortage of conspiracy theories from the
insinuations that it was an intentionally developed biological weapon set out
to decimate the world’s population to the micro specification that the United
States’ government has a hand in its development to clamp down on China and its
fanning influence on the global economy, the Africans are not left out of the
unempirical show of wits; about how it is a Caucasian and
white-skinned-specific apposite of the viral haemorrhaging fever, Ebola virus,
which is non-specific to the black skinned. But with the reported infection of
Chelsea FC’s teenage footballer, Callum Hudson Odoi, and some other black-skinned
infected, such an unfounded fallacy has been binned for a more robust
discussion.
In the financial market,
the COVID-19 spread was fitted into its proper place like other Black Swan
Events, which caused great panic. Like in the past, the spread of the virus
across Europe and the Asian markets plunged not just the value of commodities
but also affected the price of safe heaven assets like gold, with the yellow
metal dropping to a three-month low on the market. The FTSE 100, the UK’s main
market index lost 10% of its value in a trading day, seeing its steepest
decline since 1987. According to a BBC reportage, this is ‘’despite actions by
the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank to ease financial strains’’. The
US government’s attempt to buffer the dollar’s strength saw it lose billions of
its currency value in less than an hour. The price of oil in the global oil
market was not spared. In a report, the Oil prices suffered their biggest fall
in thirty years, akin to the time when American forces launched air strikes on
Iraqi troops following their invasion of Kuwait.
Patronage in retail
outlets have tanked, with online retail stores recording massive sales volume
at breakneck speed. However, the victims have been restaurant and retail food
outlets who have closed shops in popular Chinese and Italian towns. Government
revenue from tourism suffered the most with ban in public gathering in
countries where the pandemic has festered. Most football and sport competitions
have been placed on hold, with the often obstinate British football regulatory
agencies following suit. Airlines are not spared of the scourge, with ticket
price at its lowest ebb and imposed travel restrictions from countries with
severe cases like the most of Europe and Asia.
Africa has recorded minute
cases, Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been reckoned with as
one of the best global disease management centre. One that has been proactive
rather than reactive as seen in places like the US where citizens loot
isolation centres, leaving them running short of medical supplies like gloves,
face mask and tissue papers. Nigeria’s index case was quickly taken into
isolation and treated as an emergency, and it’s spread can be said at present
to be contained. The second case according to the authorities has been said to
have been certified negative. While the world battles, Nigeria might have
scored another first in its epidemic management and control without due credit
as like other occasions, but is Africa safe from the crippling effect of the
virus?
Buhari’s flailing
Naira
In all these one begs
answers for the sudden tanking of the Nigerian Naira. With economically
repressive policies and the failure of the Buhari administration to allow for
the prevalence of market-driven forces in the determination of exchange rates,
the naira is at the mercy of speculators like in mid-2015 till early 2016 when
it gained mild stability.
The long-held deception
about Nigeria’s growth being driven by non-oil sectoral activities was quickly
exposed as the price of oil – Nigeria’s monolithic revenue source – fell below
the benchmarked budgeted price. With the global price of oil falling about 55%
of the benchmarked price, Nigeria stands a risk of another recession especially
with the outmoded and egocentric decision to protect rather than devalue the
Naira.
As a knock-on effect, the
first casualty was the foreign reserves which fell from $44 billion to $38
billion (13% of its worth) in less than a week. The black market, operated by
the Bureau de Change owners, which has been the go-to source of foreign
exchange for small and medium business owners – no thanks to the conspiracy of
the mainstream commercial banks – led on. In Abuja, as early as 10 am on
Wednesday, the ‘’aboki’’ on the street had already pegged his dollar at N420
from the N355.
Another recession in just
about a year of the Buhari second term at the presidency will not only signal
the problematic nature of his economic priorities or the less inspiring effort
to drive the economy towards a known direction, but a telling prognostication
of a heavily failed attempt at managing the economy better than the much talked
about ‘’locust years’’ of the PDP. The APC has been less inspiring and
directionless as the PDP which it is often wont to heap Nigeria’s woes on.
A post-Buhari presidency
will be a behemoth of results. One of them will be the failure to inspire
confidence in a 2015 ecstatic Nigeria populace. As the time ticks, the hope
wanes, and Nigerians whine!
Follow me on Twitter @Kayce_Joshua
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