10 long term changes this coronavirus pandemic may just force upon Nigerians

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) This clampdown has forced us to shelve partying for now. Our people might just find that this is a good way to save money. By and large, a partying people are seldom a thinking people

(2) Everyday, our people pack churches and mosques. Now that they realise these religious gatherings cannot save them from serious calamity, our people might just start having second thoughts. The future is knowledge-based, not faith-based

(3) With the price of crude oil dropping to $22 a barrel, our dependence on it for survival is suicidal. If we continue we will just starve to death

(4) With our borders and airports closed, we simply have to produce what we consume. I am hoping this spurs local production over the long term. Why should the rest of the world manufacture consumer goods for us?

(5) Today, nobody can fly abroad for medical treatment. I just hope the trend continues and forces us to look at improving local healthcare facilities

(6) This virus has proven that countries simply need to prepare for unforeseen eventualities. That is actually what a foreign reserve is for. I hope we have learnt from this. Nigeria should aim to always have $100bn in her foreign reserves at every point in time

(7) These social distancing measures require a lot of discipline. People have to learn to abide by guidelines. I hope that this marks a turning point in our reckless disregard for discipline

(8) I hope we are sufficiently embarrassed by the sight of Ethiopian Airlines delivering medical material to Nigeria to realise that we need our own national courier

(9) Manufacturing small medical gadgets like face masks, test kits, sanitisers, etc is best done in developing nations where labour and production costs are low. Bangladesh is now mass producing test kits at a cost of $3 each. This should spur us into action

(10) Seeing those Cuban doctors arrive in Italy should shame us into action. We should set ourselves a goal of being able to provide this kind of service to humanity within the next 20 years