COVID-19: The frightening unfolding tragedy in Kano

By Aondover Eric Msughter

When J.P Clark said those who are gone are better off and that those of us still alive are the casualties, he must have seen 2020. COVID-19 has become a driving wheel in Kano State and Nigeria needs to wake up before Kano brings the entire country down. Day-in-day-out, people are dying in the state as the figure of COVID-19 keep increasing on daily basis in the ancient city of Kano.

The most shocking incident is the mysterious death of three Professors in Bayero University, Kano. Sadly, Nigeria is in trouble because if Kano goes down, Nigeria goes with it. The rate at which hundreds are dying every now and then in Kano without solution portends a dangerous signal to Nigeria as a whole.

In Kano today, it is on record that 70 per cent of doctors have fled their duty post. This is because the situation of COVID-19 in the state is like sending a soldier to Sambisa forest without a gun. Just like Professor Usman Yusuf concurred “no soldier will ever attempt going into Sambisa forest without a gun to fight insurgents, he will run away”.

The same thing is also attributed to journalists who are saddled with the responsibility of providing information about COVID-19 in the state but cannot because of lack of protection and equipments which have made some of them to remain in their places of hideout.

The spread of COVID-19 in Kano is accelerating to a point that in every house hold, there is panic or a situation of someone being sick. People are dying. Nigerians need to wake up to this reality before what is happening in USA will happen in Nigeria. Remember, Melinda Gates once said she saw dead bodies in the streets of Africa due to COVID-19.

This is not a prophecy of doom but the way COVID-19 is fast spreading in Kano, Nigeria should wake up from its slumber, before it records the highest number of casualties and equally bring the whole of Africa down.

Hospitals in the state are shutting down because they don’t have the capacity and the necessary support to fight COVID-19 pandemic, not even hand gloves. What a terrible situation! No one knew Kano will take over as a killing centre of COVID-19 in Nigeria. What an irony! Even the total lockdown in the state is polemic because you cannot lockdown a city without providing food to the people. Kano is a commercial state (traders) whereby people come out every day to look for what they will eat and you cannot lock them down without food; except you provide food for them, especially in this Ramadan period. Honestly, Nigeria is not safe; don’t you think the deportation of Almajiri to other states portends another danger?

Kano people are dying, they are hungry and there is no money but unfortunately, they hear and watch how government is talking about billions of naira every day. Sincerely, there will be unrest. Kano people should be provided with food and the Presidential Task Force should be completely relocated to Kano. Apparently, there is need for health workers to be provided with the necessary equipments that can guarantee their safety. Hospitals need consumables, ICU spaces and more ventilators.

The Governor of Kano State and his team should spring into action to ascertain the reason behind mysterious deaths in the state and provide plan on what the Federal Government of Nigeria will do.  A stitch in time saves nine.

Aondover Eric Msughter, Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University, Kano. Syndicated Writer and a Political Analyst Email: [email protected]