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British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of beheading the US journalist in 2002.

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The number of infections across the country has risen to more than 216,000 since the outbreak began.

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The Covid-19 vaccine candidates will be tested on ferrets over three months in Australia.

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US President Donald Trump said he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to strike a deal in the next few days.

The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 23 new cases of Coronavirus in the country.

This brings to 174 the total cases confirmed in the country.

The NCDC had earlier on Wednesday announced 12 cases in the country. 

In the latest cases, nine were confirmed in Lagos with seven in the Federal Capital Territory.

"Twenty-three new cases of #COVID19 have been reported in Nigeria; nine in Lagos, seven in the FCT, five in Akwa Ibom, one in Kaduna and one in Bauchi State.

"As at 8:00pm April 1, there are 174 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria," the NCDC said. 

PUBLIC HEALTH News AddThis :  Original Author :  SaharaReporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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The Ondo State Government has announced the immediate closure of all entry points into the state as part of moves to curb the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the country. 

The announcement was made on Wednesday in a statement by spokesperson for the state government, Donald Ojogo.  

The statement reads, "Having observed COVID-19 and the pos­sibility of its unde­terminable spread, the Government of Ondo State has ordered the closure of its borders with the neig­hbouring states of Ekiti, Osun, Ko­gi, Edo and Elefon, our coastal border with Ogun which in recent past has witnessed heavy human traffic from Lagos and Ogun.

"This order prohibits inter-state travels into the state and takes effect from 6pm on Thursday, 2nd April, 2020.

"Secu­rity operatives as well as monitoring te­ams have been put on the alert to enforce this order as part of measures already taken to stem COVID­-19 incursion into Ondo State."

The government also declared a three-day prayer and fast expected to commence on Thursday. 
 

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A United States citizen, who tested positive for Coronavirus in Lagos, has been moved back home to America.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, made the disclosure on his Twitter handle on Wednesday.

He said, “The total #COVID-19 cases in Lagos is now 82. Eight patients have so far been discharged following their full recovery. 

“One of the confirmed cases, who is an American citizen, has been evacuated to the USA.”

Nigeria now has 151 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and two recorded deaths. 

PUBLIC HEALTH United States of America News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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A United States citizen, who tested positive for Coronavirus in Lagos, has been moved back home to America.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, made the disclosure on his Twitter handle on Wednesday.

He said, “The total #COVID-19 cases in Lagos is now 82. Eight patients have so far been discharged following their full recovery. 

“One of the confirmed cases, who is an American citizen, has been evacuated to the USA.”

Nigeria now has 151 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and two recorded deaths. 

PUBLIC HEALTH United States of America News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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The Ondo State Government has shut down all markets including the ones selling essential commodities in the state. 

The government said the closure was part of measures to stem the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

In a statement, the Ondo Government said, “It has been observed that residents have flagrantly disobeyed this directive which is a potent measure to avoid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Compelled by this unwholesome infraction, government hereby places a total ban on all markets across Ondo State.

“This ban is irrespective of any item. For emphasis, all markets must remain closed until further notice.”

In a related development, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has ordered the fumigation of all markets and motor parks across the state.

He said, “By the time people return to the markets after the closure, they will meet the place cleaner and already fumigated.”

 

PUBLIC HEALTH News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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The Ondo State Government has shut down all markets including the ones selling essential commodities in the state. 

The government said the closure was part of measures to stem the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

In a statement, the Ondo Government said, “It has been observed that residents have flagrantly disobeyed this directive which is a potent measure to avoid the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Compelled by this unwholesome infraction, government hereby places a total ban on all markets across Ondo State.

“This ban is irrespective of any item. For emphasis, all markets must remain closed until further notice.”

In a related development, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu has ordered the fumigation of all markets and motor parks across the state.

He said, “By the time people return to the markets after the closure, they will meet the place cleaner and already fumigated.”

 

PUBLIC HEALTH News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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Properties worth millions of naira were on Wednesday destroyed by a windstorm that accompanied a rainfall in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State.

On Tuesday, a fierce windstorm had destroyed the broadcast mast of Glory FM, a radio station owned by state government. See Also News Windstorm Destroys Broadcast Mast In Bayelsa 0 Comments 1 Day Ago

Among properties affected by Wednesday’s incident were the broadcast mast of Daar Communication Plc, operator of AIT and Raypower.

The windstorm also destroyed a giant billboard at Goodluck Jonathan Bridge, roof of buildings housing civil servants at Market Estate and several other.

No casualty was recorded during the incident. 

 

News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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Properties worth millions of naira were on Wednesday destroyed by a windstorm that accompanied a rainfall in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State.

On Tuesday, a fierce windstorm had destroyed the broadcast mast of Glory FM, a radio station owned by state government. See Also News Windstorm Destroys Broadcast Mast In Bayelsa 0 Comments 1 Day Ago

Among properties affected by Wednesday’s incident were the broadcast mast of Daar Communication Plc, operator of AIT and Raypower.

The windstorm also destroyed a giant billboard at Goodluck Jonathan Bridge, roof of buildings housing civil servants at Market Estate and several other.

No casualty was recorded during the incident. 

 

News AddThis :  Original Author :  Saharareporters, New York Disable advertisements : 
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The world is gripped in the Coronavirus reality and the immense panic and disruption it brings along with it. This virulent scourge has cut a path less trodden by viruses, as it infects and spreads with little regard for all the norms of red tape that has allowed the murder and official disappearance of many, including my six brothers. By the time it begins to execute those whose death sentences it has written and signed it is always 10 steps ahead on the paperwork. That is almost eight steps ahead of professionals like Buhari.

The virus is a near perfect beta of a doomsday virus. Even the most hard-line sceptics have ended up dumbfound by just how profoundly serious Covid-19 is as a survivalist organism that is here to accomplish its apocalyptic mission. Though many medical experts have since been pressured, pressed and forced to promise a vaccine and possible cure within the next few months to a year; the truth is that the threat is clearly unprecedented.

In my case I went to sleep in a world where my priority was to deliver food and medical aid to my parents in Kaduna Prison; only to wake up and realize that there was an even larger number of factors in play. I slept knowing full well that it was an uphill battle against the entire regime of Major-General-Buhari and his army of punitive henchmen; to all of a sudden be confronted by a Diablo ex-Machina; courtesy of the novel corona virus AKA Covid-19.

Now all visits to prison by anyone and everyone were effectively and strictly forbidden. I understood and reasoned that it was the proper measure to prevent contagion of this clearly deadly disease. The last thing I would want is to be a part of what makes my already sickly parents sicker; or worse.

In spite of the fact that I had completed all arrangements to have doctors visit both my parents in Kaduna Prison, in order to provide them with relief for their existing medical conditions due to age and a plethora of wounds they sustained during the attack and subsequent ransacking of our home by the Nigerian Army. All of which have all gone untreated during the past five years.

I still thought and reasoned that a quarantine of the entire area was the best measure possible in the short term, considering the existing circumstances. As a result of this I made all the necessary apologies to cancel appointments with all the doctors and hospitals, to ensure that the quarantine in Kaduna Prison will hold and be maintained. I then did all in my power to send masks, hand sanitizers, gloves, soap and vitamins. All in an effort to stay safe and keep everyone safe. 

I have now since been jolted out of the stupor of perceived safety by terrible news. There has been a violent incident inside Kaduna Prison, which has rendered my memory of the Zaria Massacre of 2015 raw. As the harrowing sounds of another rampage of gun fire was heard from Kaduna Prison, where my parents are currently being detained.

All my frantic calls to the Controller of Prisons and his deputy were not answered, as the sounds of gun fire continued to rage. All my efforts to learn what was really going on failed. I have however been able to learn a few things through the few answered calls. All of them agree on the following.

1.      There has been a surge of Covid-19 symptomatic prisoners in Kaduna Prison.

2.      Staff of the prison clinic have been avoiding three symptomatic prisoners particularly.

3.      Three of them were removed and one was returned on Tuesday.

4.      A number of Prisoners strongly objected to the re-introduction of the prisoners.

5.      The prison staff tried to calm things down by trying to reason with them.

6.      The Prison’s armed squad were then deployed, to supress an alleged prison break.

7.      After a period of automatic fire in the air and on target, calm was restored.

8.      The prisoners suspected of Covid-19 are among those reported shot and killed.

9.      Bullet canisters were still littered all over the place 3 hours later.

10.  Many of the Kaduna prison staff are visibly injured, some with serious injuries.

11.  A significant number of the injured staff were seen walking around in blood-soaked uniforms.

12.  So called normalcy has been enforced, and returned at an unknown cost.

The fact remains that the highly crowded, unsanitary conditions of Kaduna Prison remains a highly contagious environment, that is no place for my vulnerable mother and father, both of whom are above 50 years of age. Both of whom are un-healthy, both of whom are suffering from an unprecedented number of health issues that have remained untreated and unattended.

Due to a determination by the regime of Heil! Major-General Buhari and his now contagious Governor El-Rufai and their army of undertakers. It is unclear what is really going on at the site of all the intense gunfire that was heard in Kaduna Prison. Aside from the above stated facts, I can say no more.

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Mohammed Ibraheem Zakzaky Disable advertisements : 
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A lot of legal issues are bound to arise as an aftermath of the outbreak of Coronavirus otherwise referred to as COVID-19.  There is therefore a need to shed light on some of the issues that may arise and how to navigate them. This article will x-ray the rights of patients, the rights of health workers and the basic minimum obligations of the government.

The Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria 2008 lists acts that constitute professional negligence. Rule 29.4 of the Code outlines some of these acts as follows:-

a)      Failure to attend promptly to a patient requiring urgent attention when the practitioner was in a position to do so;

b)     Manifesting incompetence in the assessment of a patient;

c)      Making an incorrect diagnosis particularly when the clinical features were so glaring that no reasonable skillful practitioner could have failed to notice them; 

d)     Failure to advise, or proffering wrong advice to  a patient on the risk involved in a particular operation or course of treatment, especially if such an operation or course of treatment is likely to result in serious side effects like deformity or loss of organ, or function;

e)      Failure to obtain the informed consent of the patient before proceeding on any surgical procedure or course of treatment when such consent was necessary; 

f)       Making a mistake in treatment e.g. amputation of the wrong limb, carelessness that results in the termination of a pregnancy, prescribing the wrong drug, or dosage in error for a correctly diagnosed ailment, etc;

g)     Failure to refer, or transfer a patient in good time, when such a referral or transfer was necessary;

h)     Failure to do anything that ought reasonably to have been done under any circumstance for the good of the patient;

i)       Failure to see a patient as often as his medical condition warrants or to make appropriate comments in the case notes of the practitioner’s observations and prescribed treatment during such visits. It also includes failure to communicate with the patient or with his relatives as may be necessary with regards to any developments, progress or prognosis in the patient’s condition.

 

Rule 11.2 of the 2008 Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria provides that, “A physician shall preserve absolute confidentiality on all he knows about his patient even after the patient has died.”

             Rule 44 of the Code of Medical Ethics has extensive provisions on Confidentiality and when disclosure of information can be made. The Rule provides in part that:

“Disclosure of information on the patient by the doctor can only be made following an informed consent of the patient in writing. It is clear that the ethic covers even such information as induced abortion, venereal disease, attempted suicide, concealed birth and drug dependence but would exclude situations in which a discretionary breach of confidentiality is necessary to protect the patient or the community from danger and this must be made clear to the patient at the time of the confidential disclosure. Where statutory notification of disease is involved, the consent of the patient is not required.”            

            Confidentiality: To Disclose Identity Of Covid-19 Patients Or Not To Disclose?

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people infected with the COVID-19 will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment.  Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.[1]

The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria on the 27th of February 2020. It is the case of an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020. In reaction to the report, the social was divided between those who want the name of the Italian disclosed and those that preferred it remains confidential. The outcry was even more when the Chief of Staff to the President tested positive according to reports from various media houses[2], but the Minister of Health decided to keep mute on the identity of the President’s aide who contacted the virus, citing confidentiality.

It will ordinarily be wrong to disclose the medical status of someone infected with COVID-19, for instancethe case of the Italian who was the index case. However in view of the proviso to Rule 44 of the Code of Medical Ethics 2008 which provides that a discretionary breach of confidentiality is necessary in order to protect the community from danger, I am of the view that the test results of popular figures who hold strategic offices like the Chief of Staff to the President or a Governor must be disclosed to guaranty public safety. This is necessary in view of the countless number of people from all works of life they come in contact with on a daily basis.  It will be correct to have made their status public in the overriding interest of the public, since it will enable those who have come in contact with them isolate, just like we have seen in the cases of the British Prime Minister, the Bauchi State Govenor, Prince Charles, the First Lady of Canada and many more. We must commend those who announced their status in public themselves-it is the best thing to do in the interest of humanity

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides additional guidelines for the management of coronavirus patients specifically.[3]

Health workers should:

•follow established occupational safety and health procedures, avoid exposing others to health and safety risks and participate in employer-provided occupational safety and health training; 

•use provided protocols to assess, triage and treat patients; 

•treat patients with respect, compassion and dignity; 

•maintain patient confidentiality; 

•swiftly follow established public health reporting procedures of suspect and confirmed cases; 

•provide or reinforce accurate infection prevention and control and public health information, including to concerned people who have neither symptoms nor risk;

•put on, use, take off and dispose of personal protective equipment properly;

•self-monitor for signs of illness and self-isolate or report illness to managers, if it occurs; 

•advise management if they are experiencing signs of undue stress or mental health challenges that require support interventions; and 

•report  to  their  immediate  supervisor  any  situation  which  they  have  reasonable  justification  to  believe presents an imminent and serious danger to life or health.

 

Doctors and health workers in Nigeria must endeavor to digest the guidelines in the Code of Medical Ethics as well as the WHO Guidelines for management of Coronavirus victims and ensure they work strictly by their provisions. A breach of these duties have dire consequences. 

Options Available To Covid-19 Patients Who Are Victims Of Medical Negligence

A Coronavirus patient who has suffered medical negligence has a number of options:

1. He could file a complaint with the regulatory body (e.g. the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, in the cases involving a Doctor). The Doctor will in the first instance be investigated by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel, after which he will be tried by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. If found culpable,  the Doctor may be warned, suspended from practicing for a period not exceeding 6 months or in very serious cases, have his name can be removed from the Register of Medical Practitioners. The Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal does not award monetary damages.

2. A suit can be filed against the Medical Doctor, the Hospital, Agency or Government in the High Court for Medical Negligence and monetary damages will be awarded if the Defendant(s) are found culpable.

      3.  If there is an element of Crime, a report could be made to the Police who would conduct Criminal Investigation and where the investigation reveals gross negligence, recklessness or wanton disregard for life of the victim, the police can prosecute or forward the case file to the office of the Attorney General of the State for possible prosecution in deserving cases.  

A Need To Do More For Doctors And Other Professionals In The Health Sector

Health workers are at the front line of any outbreak response and as such are exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection with an outbreak pathogen (in this case COVID-19). Hazards include pathogen exposure, long working  hours,  psychological  distress,  fatigue,  occupational  burnout,  stigma,  and  physical  and  psychological violence. 

During the outbreak of Ebola more than 500 health care workers died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra-Leone alone. We also lost some of our finest doctors and health workers to the disease in Nigeria, the most prominent being Dr. Stella Adadevoh, who is credited with having curbed a wider spread of the Ebola virus in Nigeria by placing the index patient, Patrick Sawyer, in quarantine despite pressures from the Liberian  government. As we speak, The coronavirus is waging a war of attrition against health care workers throughout the world, but nowhere is it winning more battles at the moment than in Italy and in Spain, where protective equipment and tests have been in severely short supply for weeks. In Spain 13.6% (6500) of those affected with the coronavirus are health workers and in Italy 10% (7400) of those affected with the virus are health workers. [4] In New York dozens of health workers have been affected with the virus, while hundreds are in quarantine.[5] According to reports filtering in as the time of concluding this article, three health workers have been infected with COVID-19 in Abuja, Nigeria.[6]

Human Rights Watch research into health system collapse in Hungary and Venezuela suggests the nations’ mismanaged, underfunded, and understaffed public healthcare system is poorly equipped to handle a COVID-19 outbreak. Patients and medical experts described a lack of basic hygiene protocol, lack of isolation rooms, and a shortage of health professionals, doctors and nurses, and medical supplies in general.

The situation is not too different in Nigeria at the moment and except something drastic is done we might be witnessing a devastating effect of the pandemic. Nigeria’s, public health capacity has been diminished by large scale public sector corruption. Medical personnel lack surgical masks and local supplies have been diverted and shipped to other markets partly due to corruption. Many states are ill-prepared to combat the impeding surge in patients. A senior health worker with a government hospital in Abuja, in an interview with Sahara Reporters, lamented the lack of quality Personal Protective Equipment for them, adding that government must invest in the protection of health workers at the frontline of the battle against the virus. He said, "The unfortunate thing is that the government is not providing us with what to work with. It is sad that our PPE are not up to the world standard and can be penetrated by viruses. Some of us (health workers) have to use our personal funds to purchase gloves as we do not trust the ones government supplied. Nigerians should please remember us in their prayers and government should provide us with what we really need to work." [7]

There was report that in Bauchi State a Coronavirus patient rejected the isolation centre at the Bauchi Specialist Hospital and went back home while describing it as “too dirty”.[8]  

It is disappointing to hear that the hazard allowance for doctors and health workers is N5,000 per month in Nigeria. The amount is very paltry compared to the risks and the attendant emotional and psychological stress suffered by the health-care workers (HWCs) particularly during monumental outbreaks like this. Unfortunately, when a patient is mismanaged, these doctors and health workers bear the burden of paying huge compensation and sometimes losing their jobs. More importantly, the brain-drain in the health sector is monumental, almost all my friends who are doctors, work abroad. Unfortunately, there are concerted efforts by the US Government to engage foreign Doctors to further fortify its health work force as COVID-19 ravages. Many young Nigerian doctors are already considering the offers because the Nigerian government has paid little attention to their welfare and the welfare of the general health workforce. To stop the exodus of our doctors, who are already in short supply, the government must act fast by improving their welfare packages in line with acceptable international standards.

The psychological needs of doctors and health workers are also often ignored. Unsafe working conditions contribute to health worker attrition in many countries due to work-related illness and injury and the resulting fear of health workers of occupational infection, including from HIV and Tuberculosis. The 2006 World Health Report - Working Together for Health reported on a severe health workforce crisis in fifty-seven countries, most of them in Africa and Asia. [9]

Protecting the occupational health of health workers is critical to having an adequate workforce of trained and healthy health personnel. Governments at the Federal and State levels are urged to do more by complying fully with the World Health Organization’s guidelines regarding the Rights of Health Workers while combating COVID-19. Some of the rights are:

·         assume overall responsibility to ensure that all necessary preventive and protective measures are taken to minimize occupational safety and health risks;

·         provide information, instruction and training on occupational safety and health, including; Refresher training on infection prevention and control(IPC); and Use, putting on, taking off and disposal of personal protective equipment(PPE);

·         provide adequate IPC and PPE supplies (masks, gloves, goggles, gowns, hand sanitizer, soap and water, cleaning supplies) in sufficient quantity to healthcare or other staff caring for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients, such that workers do not incur expenses for occupational safety and health requirements;

·         not be required to return to a work situation where there is continuing orserious danger to life or health, until the employer has taken any necessary remedial action;

·         allow workers to exercise the right to remove themselves from a work situation that they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to their life or health. When a health worker exercises this right, they shall be protected from any undue consequences; 

·         honour the right to compensation, rehabilitation and curative services if infected with COVID-19 following exposure in the workplace. This would be considered occupational exposure and resulting illness would be considered an occupational disease,

·         provide access to mental health and counselling resources; and 

·         enable co-operation between management and workers and/or their representatives. Etc.

In conclusion, professional care givers for COVID-19 patients should uphold four basic principles formulated by Beauchamp and Childress in their book 'Principles of Biomedical Ethics' in order to protect themselves from liability for negligence. The four basic principles are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice.

Autonomy: People have the right to control what happens to their bodies. This principle simply means that an informed, competent adult patient can refuse or accept treatments, drugs, and surgeries according to their wishes. People have the right to control what happens to their bodies because they are free and rational. And these decisions must be respected by everyone, even if those decisions aren’t in the best interest of the patient.

Beneficence: All healthcare providers must strive to improve their patient’s health, to do the most good for the patient in every situation. But what is good for one patient may not be good for another, so each situation should be considered individually. And other values that might conflict with beneficence may need to be considered.

Non-maleficence: “First, do no harm” is the bedrock of medical ethics. In every situation, healthcare providers should avoid causing harm to their patients. You should also be aware of the doctrine of double effect, where a treatment intended for good unintentionally causes harm. This doctrine helps you make difficult decisions about whether actions with double effects can be undertaken.

Justice: The fourth principle demands that you should try to be as fair as possible when offering treatments to patients and allocating scarce medical resources. You should be able to justify your actions in every situation. For instance, it will amount to a professional misconduct for a Health-care Worker to remove a poor man from the ventilator because a Senator was rushed in. 

Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem is a partner in Adetola-Kazeem Legal Practice and specializes in Medical and Health Law

Email: aadetolakazeem@gmail.com;aadetolakazeem@gaklp.com

[1] https://ift.tt/2UWeyTE on the 28th of March 2020)

[2] https://ift.tt/3bEk4RC

https://ift.tt/3aEhZp0 on the 28th of March 2020)

[3] Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Outbreak: Rights, Roles and Responsibilities Of Health workers, Including Key Considerations For Occupational Safety And Health”. https://ift.tt/39E7gcG on the 26th of March 2020)

[4] https://ift.tt/3bOLDIl on 26th March 2020)

[5] https://ift.tt/3aCw3z7 on 28th of March 2020)

[6] https://ift.tt/3bBnSDt

[7] Supra

[8] https://ift.tt/2wLBrl3 on 28th March 2020)

[9] https://ift.tt/2X1knlJ on 26th March 2020)

 

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem Disable advertisements : 
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Before this moment, Nigeria has been commended across the world for her readiness to combat and contain Coronavirus. Now that the virus is ravaging Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we must brainstorm the absences in how we are preparing to mitigate and alleviate the spread of the highly pandemic disease in the sub-region. As an effort in this direction, this article speaks to one of the reasons Coronavirus may be deadlier in Nigeria than elsewhere in the world and why place-based creative responses are necessary. My other goal is to get the conversation started about the omissions in coronavirus conversations in developing countries like Nigeria.

A common type of low-cost residential real estate/vernacular dwellings in Nigeria is popularly known in local parlance as face-me, I-face-you. It is a constabulary corridor style rectangular architectural housing design that has been catering to the housing needs of low income and disadvantaged families in Nigeria, since the pre-independence era. face-me, I-face-you dwellings can be bungalows or story buildings. The design comprises a narrow central corridor, around which rooms are linearly arranged and from which the rooms are to be accessed. It is so named face-me, I-face-you, because the rooms face one another, with the central corridor separating them. The central corridor is a place for many things, including close-contact socializing and cooking.  

In face-me, I-face-you houses, it is emblematic for residents to share a kitchen, bathroom, and toilet. In non-bungalow types, tenants share a common balcony and staircase through which upstairs are accessed. Customarily, the rooms are of small sizes, mainly, to maximize rental income. Besides, the population densities in face-me, I-face-you dwellings are usually more than the required carrying capacity of the rooms. It is not unusual that about 8-10 persons may be living in one single bedroom in a face-me, I-face-you apartment. As a result, a face-me, I-face-you apartment of about 10 rooms may inhabit about 80-100 persons, who are sharing rooms, a kitchen, a toilet, and other facilities. This is for many reasons including the poverty conditions of the majority of the residents.

Discussion on the spread of coronavirus is yet to get at how overcrowded tenement buildings like face-me, I-face-you properties may aid and worsen the spread of the disease in Nigeria and some other SSA countries. This article addresses this gap by drawing on my lived experience in Nigeria and such dwellings, as well as the science of the spread of coronavirus. This topic is particularly deserving of attention for many reasons including that a conservative estimate suggests that more than 70% of the tenement rooms in Nigeria are face-me, I-face-you. As explained below, another reason is that the nature of this type of dwellings makes the classic social distancing of 6 feet as a way of mitigating the continued spread of coronavirus very difficult to observe.

Coronavirus is known to be highly contagious. It spreads easily among people who are within 4.5-6 feet of one another and through respiratory viral droplets that are inhaled from the coughs and sneezes of a nearby infected person. The virus transmits more quickly in crowded areas. Besides, droplets of the virus can remain viably infectious in the air for about 3 hours. The virus can also sustain its infectivity for between 2-3 days hours on metallic, steel, and plastic surfaces. Certain strains of the virus can also survive for about 9 days on surfaces, all else equal. Contacts with such contaminated surfaces, through for example touching, is one of the pathways through which coronavirus spreads. 

Let's now situate the science of the spread of coronavirus in face-me, I-face-you properties. To do this, let’s assume a hypothetical scenario of an asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carrier that is a resident of a face- me, I-face-you household. Let’s so assume because preliminary findings from a study of 91 cases of coronavirus in Singapore suggests that 48% may have contacted the diseases from asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carriers. The same study reported that 62% of 135 persons who tested positive to coronavirus in Tianjin province, China, possibly got infected by asymptomatic carriers. A computer-based simulation study also attributed 86% (two-thirds) of the infections in China before full-scale travel restrictions were imposed in Wuhan, to undetected carriers of coronavirus. Anecdotal evidence also attributes the pandemic grip of coronavirus in Italy to stealth transmission by asymptomatic carriers of the disease. As to this, Prof Massimo Galli, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of Milan noted: “We have an epidemic because of one person who returned with an infection in an asymptomatic phase and it spread underground in the 'red zone'. The fire spread in a large part of our region. The virus circulated for several weeks before people were identified and sick people were found. People became infected without significant symptoms”.

Let’s further assume that the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carrier of coronavirus sleeps in a congested one-bedroom in a face-me, I-face-you apartment that's overcrowded by 10 persons. Because the virus spreads rapidly and easily in crowded areas implies that all of the 10 persons can contract the virus. Also, the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic person may sneeze on his/her hands and touch on the staircase that is used by everyone in a two-story face-to-face apartment. Because coronavirus can last up to 9 days on hard surfaces means everyone that touches the infested staircase is likely to be infested by the disease. This means about 80-100 inhabitants of our hypothetical tenement property can become carriers of the virus. 

As mentioned earlier, a single toilet and bathroom are typically shared in face-me, I-face-you properties and they are often in poor sanitary conditions: “I hate face-me I-face-you, I just manage because that is what I have money for. They don’t even clean the bathroom and toilet when they are done” – Sola Sodipo. And, toilets and bathrooms are places where things happen, including sneezing, spitting of saliva, mucus and flowing of droplets from mouth, nose, and etcetera. Those are more likely to happen in filthy bathrooms and toilets as it in most face-me, I-face-you properties. Imagine the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic carrier of coronavirus sneeze and spit saliva in the toilets and bathrooms in a face-me, I-face-you property. Sharing such facilities could mean sharing and spreading the viral loads of coronavirus. Thus, this is another pathway through which residents of face-me, I-face-you property can become infested by coronavirus. It is also typical for residents of face-me, I-face-you to gather in the rooms of co-tenants to watch home videos. This is another avenue through which the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic person can spread the disease in a face-me, I-face-you tenement property. 

Given the above, the question to be asked and answered is, how should we prepare occupants of face-me, I-face-you apartments from becoming less vulnerable to contacting and making coronavirus increasingly pandemic? Again, we are yet to have this conversation. And it is important that we do because we are not able to close down face-me, I-face-you properties, just like we have done with schools and worship centers in some places. I believe that all measures that are being promoted to help curtail the spread of the virus are part of the solutions to this problem. However, locally adapted and place-oriented responses to stopping the communal and pandemic spread of the disease are needed. Drawing on my lived, experiential, and professional insights, I will argue for collective action of residents in tenement properties with the attributives of face-me, I-face-you dwellings. For this to happen, the starting point should be community conversations of all residents in such apartments. Someone in the tenement property would need to call a meeting, where all the residents will discuss coronavirus and develop protocols and community actions that every resident will strictly obey. The meeting can be facilitated by the landlords, or, the property managers, who in this case, may be the persons helping the property owners to collect rent. This may be a big one to do, given the low trusting social capital in most face-me, I-face-you facilities, even, among couples: “One day I fetched water to bath and went to the bathroom with it but I forgot my sponge and when I went back for it by the time I came back to the bathroom the water was gone and not that alone they steal my food in the kitchen no privacy at all” – Sola Sodipo. But conveying the meeting is possible and has to be done. Governments should leverage the instruments and voice of state through avenues such as adverts and jingoes, to direct and educate the public in such tenement properties about the need for the meeting. The meeting should discuss individual household and compound-level mechanisms through which coronavirus can spread. Building on that, the meeting should also discuss and develop a routine for disinfecting shared utilities like bathrooms, toilets, staircases, and etcetera. Strategies should be mapped out to prevent and mitigate the spread of the disease. What are your thoughts? Let the conversations begin! 

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Jelili Adebiyi Disable advertisements : 
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"Between 100,000 to 240,000 people will be killed by Covid-19 in America if we take the right measures but if we do not take the right measures up to 1 million Americans will die" – CNN. 

If CNN is quoting the experts in the medical field and saying that up to one million people will die in America alone if the right measures are not taken to tackle Covid-19, can anyone hazard a guess about how many millions we will lose in Nigeria and Africa if care is not taken and we do not do the right thing? The whole thing is not only horrendous but also apocalyptic. 

What is really going on with Covid-19 is far too big, too complex, too sinister, too evil, too bizarre and too extraordinary for the average mind to comprehend or accept. 

You need to be very astute, very well-read, very focused and literally a genius to get it clearly or you need to be led by the Spirit of God to open your mind and eyes.

Without either you will struggle with accepting the truth and even if you do accept it you may not be able to handle it and you may end up living in total fear for the rest of your life. 

If you tell the average person what is really going on they will declare you insane. Perhaps it is better to just tell them to follow the World Health Organisation and government guidelines, stay indoors, keep clean, hope for the best and pray! 

My initial inclination before making this contribution was to do precisely that, take my own counsel and leave it at that but after a time of deep intercession and prayer through last night I decided to share a tiny portion of what I know and hope that at least a few people will comprehend and accept it.

What we are witnessing in the world today is, to say the least, frightful and shocking. Yet it should not come as a surprise to the spiritually sensitive and discerning or to those that are schooled in eschatology or that are familiar with the many "end-time" prophecies in the book of Daniel and the book of Revelations of the Holy Bible.

What we are seeing before our very eyes is the perfect implementation of what is known in enlightened, learned, philosophical and intellectual circles as the "Hegelian dialectic".

The great British author, researcher and conspiracy theorist, David Icke, whose works I have been reading for many years and who saw all this coming decades ago, describes it as the "totalitarian tip-toe".

In a nutshell it is the cultic practice of the ancient, evil and malevolent deceit and guile known as "problem, reaction, solution" and "order after chaos".

I would urge the uninitiated or uninformed to Google these terms and learn more about them because space constraints will not enable me to do so here.

Simply put the Illuminati and the agents of Satan are at work. The whole thing was planned and contrived over the centuries and they are firmly on course.

They are trying to destroy us all and establish a new world order in the name of Lucifer and place us under the rulership of Beelzebub and the Prince of Darkness.

Coronavirus or "Covid-19" is part and parcel of that unholy and evil agenda. It is a ravenous beast and an unrelenting, evil plague. It is a demonic spirit that they cultivated and manufactured through the introduction and usage of 5G and that they invoked from the pit of hell.

China was used as the launching pad and it has been unleashed to bring panic, fear, destruction, chaos and death to humanity and to destroy our way of life, the world's economy and the way in which we conduct our affairs on planet earth.

Corona itself is evil but the vaccine that they will eventually introduce to cure it is the real killer. It will be infinitely worse than the original plague. When it is manufactured and released to the public it will kill millions and cut down the world population. And of course that is their purpose.

They want to cut down the number of human beings on the planet for easier control and management, they want to destroy nations and the world economy, they want to cage humanity and destroy small and medium scale businesses, they want to take our power, civil liberties and human rights away from us and they want the entire world to be controlled by a handful of powerful and massive corporations.

They want to get rid of the whole concept of the nation state, create a globalised world, establish a new world order, establish a cashless society and establish a one world government which will be controlled by them through Artificial Intelligence.

They want to compel everyone to take a microchip in their body which will allow them to trade, work, go to hospital, buy food, travel, live and function and without which none of these things can be done. That microchip is what the Holy Bible describes as the "Mark of the Beast" in the Book of Revelations and once you take it you are finished.

They are paving the way for the rise of the anti-Christ in world affairs: a creature who will bring all world religions together and make them one and who is the personification and living manifestation of evil itself. He will literally be Satan in the flesh, he shall perform demonic miracles to fool even the elect, he shall exalt himself as God and he shall have a false prophet.

Brothers and sisters it is time for us to pray. We must resist them and their evil agenda by prayer and we must call on the name of the Lord God of Hosts to help us. This is the time for that. The only way to slow their pace and stop them is through prayer.

The next few days, weeks, months, years and decades be tough, there will be many casualties along the way and the world may never be the same again but, with prayer, in the end we shall prevail.

No matter what they tell you always remember that Corona is a spirit from the pit of hell and its invocation and objective is to bring affliction, fear, death, destruction and chaos into the world and literally turn it upside down.

Yet despite it all God alone still rules in the affairs of men and He alone forges the destiny of nations. He will see us through and in the end His counsel alone shall stand. No matter what comes our way or what we see and hear, we must harbour no fear and must not be dismayed or shaken.

We must never forget that our God is irresistible and that He is mighty in battle. We must never forget that the Holy Spirit is still with us like a strong tower. We must never forget that the Lord said He will never leave us or forsake us and that He will never take His awesome love away from us. He said that nothing can separate us from His love. 

 

He shall be with us every step of the way and He will surely see us through this difficult time as a family, as a community, as a people, as a race, as a nation, as a specie and as a planet. He shall not be denied and neither shall He fail us. 

In the end He will make all things beautiful and He will save His people. He will effect His purpose, He will establish His counsel, He will impose His will and His name shall be glorified.

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  Femi Fani-Kayode Disable advertisements : 
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When you grow up around the old, or perhaps I should say that if you are blessed enough to have “Iya Olu” as your mother’s mother, who had raised seven of her own children, and several from other women’s wombs, and who in her dotage pours the essence of Yoruba culture into your skull, you learnt by the imageries that are planted in your head, with their war stories. They are the older females in the elephant herds: depositories of intelligence and wisdom beyond the grasp of puny minds. I am privileged. 

   Maami had a favoured proverb amongst the several that would spice any conversation that she might be having with anyone. She would say to anyone telling her a lie, or issuing an exaggeration of their own capacities, or of their inherent capabilities, that “Agbe to gbin ogorun ebu, to pe igba lo’hun gbin: bo ba je eyi to je ooto tan, a si pa’dabo wa je eyi to je iro”. 

   I would usually offer the translation of our idioms, rather than the interpretations, for I believe that the essence is almost always lost, in the interpretation. This is perhaps one of the few times I shall content myself with merely offering the interpretation. It translates best, in our unique circumstances: The farmer who cultivated a hundred mounds of yams, but declares to the world, that he had planted two hundreds, when he is done eating what he truly planted, he shall be content to quench his hunger with the fictitious hundred, of which he had boasted in his lie. 

   I am known to casually, and like the indulged but mentally unhinged uncle, say that the common denominating factor of Nigeria and its inhabitants, is to be found in our common insanity. I tend to say words to this effect with deliberate jocularity, in order to avoid angering my victims with the express intention of luring the unwary into the arguments that I have always sought; and that I have always relished. 

  The unwary would jump headlong into the well-baited trap. They have all the pseudo nationalist noises to back up their umbrage. How dare my unpatriotic idealistic, unrealistic wailing arse, dare to label our great nation as insane! And why do I believe myself better than the goodly and godly, upright citizens, that I had just libeled, by identifying as insane? I have been entertained by quite a few, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the lectures they have allowed me to deliver. 

   But what does insanity have to do with the harvest of lies? Wait for it. You will understand soon enough. 

  The Nigerian living abroad is essentially a schizophrenic being. Those of us that live in Nigeria, and travel overseas for different reasons, are even more schizophrenic. We have a duality to our personalities without which we would otherwise be unable to function in other societies; in saner societies. Imagine a Nigerian emigrant or tourist feeling at home in a foreign land, and you will better appreciate the depth of our collective schizophrenia. Let me break it down for you: a Nigerian feeling at home, outside Nigeria, shall inevitably end up in jail. Some of the many things we do reflexively in our country, would assure a man a stay in prison, in any other place in the world. 

 

   We have embraced the insanity that reigns supreme in our country. Sanity is a self-inflicted handicap in our country. We have normalized what should be abominations, and we have mostly forgotten what normalcy means. But the world is a global village. And few countries are less prepared for the global pandemic that is upon us. Our rulers have worked in the knowledge that the Nigeria State was being wrecked, but they had cared little, because we have been ruled by strangers: rulers untouched by our afflictions and pains. Be they Muslim or Christian. Untouched by our afflictions. 

   They have houses in Nigeria, but their homes are everywhere else in the world. They are the true citizens of the world, even as they have denied the ones they rule the rights of citizenship in their own country. Their hospitals are abroad, and their children do not have to attend the schools that they have ruined: ensuring that ignorance is weaponized and unleashed against the ruled. They rule us, but they do so without ever losing their hatred for us. But the perfect storm is here, and we are all in the same ship. Together. 

   COVID-19. This is the perfect storm that brings in its wake, the harvest of lies. The Nigeria State has thrived on the lies that it has told itself; lies it has perpetuated over the course of its history, and particularly so, in the last 50 years. These lies have demanded more lies in order to preserve the original lies, and these scaffolds of lies have required even more lies, in order to scaffold them. The lies have become unsustainable, and the Nigeria State has never been more imperiled than it is today. 

   I will allow Epidemiologists to explain the meaning of Herd Immunity to you but let me tell you what it is in layman’s term, before the experts begin to confuse you. When there is an epidemic, or as in the case of COVID-19, a pandemic, the goal would be to vaccinate the herd of animals; in this case, human beings. But when you have no vaccines to deploy, you allow the herd to be infected, working on the assumption that they would eventually develop the required antibodies to fight off the infection. 

   Boris Johnson was working with the belief that the best way forward for the British people in combatting Coronavirus was the attainment of herd immunity amongst the citizens. This was the culmination of a cold economic calculation, one that had ran scenarios, and accepted the loss of what he had concluded were expendable human lives. The figures emanating out of Italy, led Boris to scrap his experiments with herd immunity, and led to the putative beginnings of the current policies of social distancing and isolation that the British government has embraced today. 

   The Nigeria State is counting on the intellectual indolence of the average Nigerian to avoid answering the questions that it must address. But it needs to answer these questions, and in doing so, prepare the Nigerian people for what is coming. How many tests have been carried out? How many tests are available? How many hospital beds are available at the epicenter: Lagos? Forget the laudable efforts of Jide Sanwo-Olu; let us even forget the lies of some Lagos Wonder plan, this is not the time for audiovisual governance, the shit is about to get real. How truly prepared are we?

   What does tomorrow look like? Are the banks going to suspend interest on credit facilities? Would they be paying interests on the deposits? Would already struggling and beleaguered private sector employers pay staff that are either quarantined or ill?

    For how long? What about rent? Would the landlord have to forgo rent? What about the states already struggling to pay basic salaries before this crisis? Seeing as everything is shut down, what happens to the tax regimes, and how does the State intend to plug the chasms in its finances? What does tomorrow look like? 

   The Americans were at the peak of their biggest economic growth, and then boom! COVID-19 went visiting the most technologically advanced nation in the world, the richest and most powerful. The economy tanked. America wasted no time in passing a 2TR dollars economic stimulus package, and they did so with unusual speed, and even more unusual bipartisan support. The biggest spending bill in American history: yet, they were working on a supplementary bill, even before the ink was dried on this. COVID-19 has practically bankrupted the American economy. 

   Nigeria is part of the global village. The Nigerian economy is extremely fragile, and the global economy is about to enter the deepest recession it has ever seen. We are the proverbial farmer that is left with the harvest of lies. But the situation is worsened and tragically aggravated by the fact that we are going to have to be eating from our harvest of lies, in a season hallmarked by famine. I am not a prophet and will not call for prayers, but it is time for us to tell ourselves some truths as a people. Or this might truly be where we all die. There is a bountiful harvest of lies awaiting the rulers and the ruled. 

   Have you pondered, the day after? What does it look like? This is what Buhari and our feudal hegemons need to decide. According to my brother Mohammed Ettu, Nigeria is going to be earning between $6.7bn from our crude sales in 2020, if the world oil prices shall remain at their current levels. Our scheduled debt repayment totals $7.2bn, and the statutory payment is $1.5bn. I have not forgotten to worry about how we would be finding the money to keep our rulers in the lifestyle they are used to, and that is before we paid the workers. We are all in this boat together, and the world as we know it has ended around us. This cannot be the usual business as usual. The time is now; to begin the harvest of lies. Nigeria must be born, in the year of the plague. 

 

Farotimi is author of Do Not Die In Their War: A Political Treatise On Nigeria’s ConTemporary Political Trajectories (Dele Farotimi Publishers, Lagos, 2019)

Opinion AddThis :  Original Author :  ‘Dele Farotimi Disable advertisements : 
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