By Olakunle Agboola – As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread rapidly across the world, African countries have taken strategic decisions to mitigate the economic effects of the virus as African nations have decided to resume operations of key industries amidst the global lockdown.
The fear of further damage to the economy has prompted different governments across Africa to unlock fundamental sectors that hold the keys to their economies.
John Mint, Director of Africa integration is of the opinion that Covid-19 will not easily fade away but to find a way to strike a balance curtailing the spread and reopening the economy.
”What is clear is that lockdowns can’t go on forever and it has become a necessity to strike a balance between safety and productivity or else this pandemic will cost Africa a huge lost. Many African countries and cities have been under strict lockdown and other restrictions for over two months. During this time, economic pain has become more acute and that is why I am indifferent with a lot of African countries that are beginning to open up their economy. We need to mitigate the ripple effect of the coronavirus pandemic and build the capacity to alternate between reopening and restricting economies.”
The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, also emphasize that reopening of the economy is a necessity to save Africa from economy doom notwithstanding the rise of the branded pandemic popularly known as Covid-19.
”We do understand and appreciate that government must do what it must do because government has the responsibility to fend and be attentive to the needs of the people. So, as a result of this crisis and to prevent it from spreading wildly, government had to take the decision to lockdown the economy. But we are happy that the Presidential Task Force has advised government and the government have started a phase easing of the lockdown. But we are trying to say that we must be aggressive at this time, notwithstanding the fact that the trend is still rising. So, while we are trying to save lives, we must also save livelihoods. One way to save livelihood is that we must reopen the economy. We must get our farmers back to the farm, we must get the manufacturing plants back again”.
Governments across the African continent will face tough decisions on how best to manage the process of reopening the economy in order to protect lives and safeguard livelihoods. To date, different countries have adopted varying approaches: for example, Ghana has largely reopened its economy, subject to physical-distancing measures, while South Africa has taken a more cautious approach to reopening. The country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has announced that hotels, restaurants and hair salons would be allowed to open by the end of the month, and that non-contact sports could resume. All would be expected to respect strict hygiene and physical-distancing regulations.
Ahead of full resumption of activities across sectors of the Lagos economy in Nigeria, the government has reeled out what is expected to be strictly observed by corporate bodies and business outfits, which would subsist in the state until COVID-19 completely fade out.
The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday while giving updates as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic, said government was considering full reopening of the economy, but with a caveat that the Lagos State Safety Commission and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) would be visiting offices and business premises to assess the level of their readiness to resume operations.
Reopening economies in the midst of a pandemic will not be a linear, one-time process. Indeed, economies will require ongoing monitoring and management over a prolonged period. The diverse capabilities required to implement and optimize economic opening—at all levels of government—are “muscles” to develop and train, possibly over multiple rounds of “lockdown and restart.” Governments and society need to adopt this mindset to prepare for the long recovery ahead.
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