We should be selling Nigeria as a Covid-19 convalescence destination

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Nigeria has one of the lowest Covid-19 infection rates on earth with only 44,433 cases so far and just 910 fatalities

(2) It could be that this virus struggles to survive in our tropical climate

(3) It could also be that our acquired immunity to malaria is protecting us. From everything we have seen so far, coronavirus and malaria appear to be related ailments

(4) When I look at a country like the UK where the total number of infected people is 306,293, while the number of deaths that have occurred from the virus totals 46,299, giving the country the second highest ratio of fatalities in the world of 682 individuals per 1m people, I shudder. We should be selling Nigeria to the British as a place where patients can come and recover

(5) Mexico has a cancer recovery resort that attracts people from all over the world who come there to convalescence

(6) Badagry would be the ideal place to build such a resort in Nigeria. Its sandy beaches and plethora of coconut trees would make an ideal setting

(7) Security could easily be resolved as all the Lagos State government needs to do is deploy 5,000 Amotekun operatives there. They can then be backed up by the police

(8) Sitting on the Atlantic Ocean, Badagry should have its own offshore windfarm to provide electricity for this Coranavirus Convalescence Centre

(9) Rotimi Anaechi should be asked to extend his railway network to Badagry immediately so the transport link can be funded out of this Chinese loan

(10) Given the hard time tourist operators are going through at the moment, I can see them being very interested in this idea. Nigeria should at least ask them to look at the prospect of investing in such a venture. Imagine the mileage it would give us if Nigeria was home to the world’s first Coronavirus Convalescence Centre