By Olakunle Agboola – There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has changed the face of the world and will continue to create enormous changes for countries in Africa until there is a lasting solution to this pandemic.
As at the 12thof May, 66,319 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed on the African continent. This includes 23,143 deaths. There has been a slow rise of death toll and is becoming uncertain, how many people would have died before the end of the month amidst lockdown measures incurred by many African countries.
Lockdown has continued throttling the region’s economies, reversing decades of growth and endangering the lives of many Africans who live near or below the poverty line. In early April, the World Bank said the virus is driving the continent toward its first recession in 25 years. The international financial institution forecasts that growth will fall sharply, from 2.4 percent in 2019 to as much as -5.1 percent in 2020. The United Nations says about 20 million jobs could be lost and the number of people facing acute food insecurity could double. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda warns it may take a generation to recover from Covid-19’s economic consequences.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, and other Nigerian business moguls launched the Coalition against Covid-19 to combat the pandemic in Nigeria. Within few days, the government had received more than $65 million in donations from 53 individuals, banks, and corporations. South Africa’s wealthiest families, the Ruperts and the Oppenheimers, as well as mining magnet Patrice Motsepe’s group of companies, each contributed 1 billion rand to assist small businesses and their employees affected by the coronavirus pandemic. There have been similar examples of high-profile charitable donations in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.
Amidst the generous donations to fight this pandemic, it is also new opportunities for corruption in Africa. In early April, Uganda arrested four top government officials following reports that they inflated Covid-19 relief food prices. Controversially, in Nigeria the government is said to have disbursed N100 Billion to beneficiaries of its conditional cash transfer in one week. But how many people actually received the purported N20, 000 social palliative? Transparency International has warned that “corruption often thrives during times of crisis, particularly when institutions and oversight are weak, and public trust is low.”
The ugly wave of the pandemic has also birthed xenophobic attack against foreigners in Africa and against Africans in China. When the news broke, there was an uptick in xenophobic speech against Chinese citizens. A Kenyan politician allegedly said Chinese people should be stoned on sight, and there have been other cases of Chinese people harassed and intimidated because of coronavirus fears. Xenophobia then reared its head in Cameroon and Ethiopia, where there have been incidents of online harassment, stone-throwing, and banging on vehicles occupied by expatriates. Foreigners also have been portrayed as carrier of coronavirus and accused of being responsible for Covid-19’s presence in Africa. Meanwhile, in China, Africans have been kicked out of their homes, turned away from hotels, and denied service in restaurants in Guangzhou.
Africa’s leaders have shown some backbone insisting on fairer treatment of the region’s citizens and relief for its economic plight. The continent’s rebuke of Chinese racism against Africans in Guangzhou was even more vigorous as African officials went on the offense, dressing down Chinese diplomats and defending African dignity. Meanwhile, African leaders have demanded a seat at the table for debt relief and bailouts. Ramaphosa assembled an all-star team―including Donald Kaberuka, Trevor Manuel, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Tidjane Thiam―to press the G20, the European Union, and other international financial institutions to deliver “concrete support,” including a stimulus package, to assist the region’s fragile economies.
Africans have braced up technology to weather the economic and health crisis, adopting digital solutions to work, bank, study, and stay in touch with the world. In Nigeria, Zoom and Microsoft Teams are trending search terms on Google. Ghana and other West African governments are waiving some mobile-money account set-up and transfer fees. Senegal has introduced an online learning platform, and South African universities are giving data packages to students. Rwanda is deploying drones to distribute medicine and deliver public-service announcements. Internet penetration may still be relatively low, but the pandemic is poised to spur greater access and innovation as we have seen lately in Africa.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted religion in various ways, including the cancellation of the worship services of various faiths, the closure of Sunday Schools, as well as the cancellation of pilgrimages surrounding observances and festivals. Many churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have offered worship through livestream amidst the pandemic.
Bishop David Oyedepo, a Nigerian clergy and presiding bishop of Living Faith Worldwide, recently kicked against the revised lockdown directives by the Federal Government of Nigeria due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevent churches from operating.
“There is something wrong; for people to be allowed to be in the market for six hours and can’t be in church for two hours, it is an upside-down way of looking at things. Which one is more orderly? The market or the church? I can smell a rat. The Lord spoke to me on it so strong yesterday.”
Another Nigerian Pastor, Pastor Tunde Bakare of the general overseer of The Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, is of a contrary opinion while he makes some remarks in a broadcast shared by his church on Sunday
“This morning, I would like to bring ethical correction to some of the lamentations of certain people within the church over the ban of congregational worship in churches across the land, while markets and hospitals are allowed to operate. I am so glad that not only churches are prevented now from congregating, the mosques are also on lockdown.
The government’s order to open the markets to operate for a few days is to prevent hunger, especially in the life of daily earners because the palliatives from the government cannot go to every citizen in their homes right now.
Those churches with multiple facilities, rather than their leaders criticizing the government, they should collaborate with them. They must be prepared to offer some of their halls to governmental authorities as isolation centres in support of the efforts of the government.”
Quite a number of religious leaders in Kenya have complained of drastic fallout of weekly income and calling on the government to allow them to open their churches so that they can feed their families. Also are clerics in Nigeria who have made their intention known staging a protest against the closure of the church and Mosques by the Federal government directives to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
Wale Bada, a Kenyan Pastor was reached via WhatsApp call on Monday and he said, this is the time you will know the businessmen clerics and those who are really called by God to His vineyard.
”I can’t stop laughing lately with all sort of news spreading on the social media most especially the clerics who are planning to protest against Church and Mosque closure. I wish churches and Mosques can be closed for two years, then you will see the reaction and the true nature of business clerics. They are the one making noise on social media because business is not as usual. They are thieves who only care about their money and not the health and the safety of the people.”
Small and heavy industries are becoming more digitalized in their operation to break even and to stay in business. This will definitely cause a lot of people to lose their jobs after coronavirus pandemic.
A lot of organizations across the world are already caught in the dramatic slump of the lockdown and with no exception is the Africa print media. There has been downward spiral in advertising revenues as audiences are struggling to pay for news. Newspaper circulations have dropped by half in the past couple of months while newsrooms are struggling to make payroll every month. Media houses in East and North Africa have already begun to cut salaries and lay off staffs. This is a devastating blow to an already fragile media industry, from which it might never fully recover. And it comes at a time when reliable, credible journalism has never been more important.
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