By Olakunle Agboola – COVID-19 global pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption to the global economy, already tremendously impacting livelihoods in Africa by reducing earnings and increasing poverty. So far, Africa accounts for just a fraction of total cases of the disease, which has infected more than one million people worldwide.
African economies are already facing an impending global economic downturn, plummeting oil and commodity prices and an imploding tourism sector. Africa’s biggest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola continue to loose more income by the day, as the ban on international travels is not yet over.
Africa tourism which in recent years has been among the fastest growing regions in the world are shutting down with borders now closed and locked down from international travels. Africa’s major tourism spots Seychelles, Cape Verde, Mauritius and Gambia continue to feel the adverse effect of the lockdown when there is drastic fallout on income flow.
Employees across the African continent are beginning to feel the heat of Covid-19 lockdown as they are laid off from their jobs. As of May 7, Uganda’s Premier Distilleries-which repurposed production lines to make hand sanitizers-had only retained 20 percent of its employees. Although the telecoms and tech industries are not anticipated to be the most affected, but some companies have already announced layoffs of 10 percent to 30 percent of their staff due to lack of income flow and limited business expansion caused by the pandemic.
The CEO of Baldale furniture in Accra Ghana spoke to our correspondence via What’s App and he is of the opinion that this is a trying time for businesses across Africa as a lot of corporate organizations are laying off staffs and cutting wages to bounce back from financial stress as a result of Covid-19 lockdown.
”We get most of our raw materials from China even though they are shipped from Nigeria to China. There has been low patronage on our products because people are meant to stay at home to curtail the spread of this coronavirus but the irony of it is that we are under financial stress as a company because we are not making money. The management had to cut salary by 30 percent, but we won’t lay off any of our staffs for now. Our prayers are for Covid-19 to quickly fade off and it can be business as usual so that we won’t take any further action to of lay off staffs”.
Tomiwa Ige, an economist and a financial consultant in Lagos, Nigeria said, this is a trying time for Africa and the rest of the world because a lot of companies are going through financial stress as a result of the lockdown.
”I consult for a few organizations in Nigeria and I can say, this is a trying time for a lot of organization in Africa. I felt so bad three days ago when three of my friends lost their jobs. Last week, two of my cousins, my brothers and ten other friends had a serious slash on their salary up to 35 percent. Other people call me to tell me the same story of financial stress. As a financial consultant, I was expecting such and more people are going to be affected having more than a million out of job already across the world. About 20 million jobs are at risk in Africa as the continent’s economies are projected to shrink this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an African Union (AU) study. I cannot think of a better way out of this than to get out of Covid-19 lockdown so that life can come back to normal”.
Price of commodities continue to increase across the continents as a lot of products are getting scarce in the market due to low supply of such products even there is a high demand for them. People are cutting their teeth and hoping that Covid-19 will quickly die permanently. John Motalo, a computer Engineer living in Nairobi, Kenya talked excessively on the price of phones and computer accessories, which has gone up due to ban on international travels.
”I buy computer accessories including phones from China to sell in Nairobi, but as it is now, I can’t travel due to Covid-19 lockdown. l have to take other options of connecting with other computer and phone dealers in Nairobi to smuggle in some of these accessories through illegal route. This is the major reason why price of phones and computer accessories have increased in the market. I pray this Covid-19 is finally resolved so that things can get back to normal”.
Bodunde Jones from Nigeria attested that the price of phone accessories has gone up while he wanted to fix his phone screen last week in Lagos. He said, he was amazed at the price of Y5 screen, which was N7, 000 before but now N12, 000. Also, John Utalo from Nairobi said, he could not fix his laptop screen because he can’t afford the price and will wait till Covid-19 is over to get it fixed.
There has been ban of inter-state travel in Nigeria to curtail the spread of coronavirus, but some road users still find their ways crossing the border. Ajayi Oni, a cab driver plights Ibadan to Lagos every day and since there has been ease of lockdown in Lagos, he has been taking passengers from Ibadan to Lagos almost everyday but with a high fee.
”I plight Ibadan to Lagos every day and this has not been easy with ban on inter-state travel as a result of Covid-19 lockdown. But man must eat and as a family man, you can’t stay at home feeding your family. We have to find a way of ensuring we make money most especially in a time like this when you know you can bribe your way through the borders. There is a law in Lagos for cab drivers to carry only three passengers. One at the front and two at the back seat and they must wear their face mask. We observe this but highly charge the passengers. We collect N6, 000 from each passenger and by the time we reach Lagos border, we must have bribed a lot of police on the road leaving you with nothing at the end of the day, but it is still better than staying at home and having nothing to feed your family. I hope things can get back to normal very fast”.
Bade Bajowa, an architect living and working in Lagos said, he decided not to travel with his car because he was told he will pay through his nose, if he is not an essential worker but he can join public transport paying a high transportation fee. He took to the advice to travel to Ibadan from Lagos last week on public transport while he spent N15, 000 to and fro.
”Ibadan from Lagos is just N1000 before Covid-19 and you can imagine what it is now. There has been ban on inter-state travel which means nobody should travel from one state to another during this period of covid-19. I do not have a pass and I am not an essential worker which means I am guilty of travelling from one state to another but because I know this is Nigeria, I can always find my way out so far you have money in your pocket. I have not seen my parents since the total lockdown in Lagos and due to their health status, I need to find my way to Ibadan, which I did despite the ban on interstate travel.
There is so much going on with this Covid-19 saga and I think a lot of people are taking the advantage of the situation, most especially the police and the highway patrol officers at the border towns and cities. It is like they want Covid-19 to be here for a very long time breathing in corruption. With what I saw travelling to Ibadan and coming back to Lagos, I think there is an existing business relationship between some cab drivers and the police because they know how to sort things out. The cab man that took me to Ibadan almost paid close to N10, 000 bribing police just to get through the border. I began to ask myself, if all it takes is to bribe the police to get through the border, then why are we wasting our time fighting Covid-19. I think we are just deceiving ourselves making life difficult for people”.
For obvious reasons, Covid-19 lockdown will continue to generate a lot of concern, as it continues to affect the quality of life in Africa and the rest of the world. African government will have to be more serious and proactive to curtail Covid-19, not to further reduce the quality of life in Africa.
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