The African proverb that says “when the hair on the head is full, is home you take it to for cutting” is now evidently seen as a single plague has shaken the whole universe and has kept both the developed and developing nations into perpetual confusion, forcing countries rejecting aliens by chasing them and other suspected ones with such plague to their homeland for remedy.
This can be seen in the fact that many Africans including Nigeria top leaders who never imagined that such unpleasant disease could come are being sent back home to remain in their countries and find solutions to the roaring problem in their own countries. To this effect, airports in many nations have been closed down to discourage foreigners from travelling secretly or running from their homeland to another country for a remedy.
Unlike before that Nigerians can easily jet out to treat themselves in advanced countries neglecting the hospitals in their own country, the recent epidemic is everywhere and those that use to travel before to even treat common headache cannot travel again, rather than to stay in Nigeria and use whatever level of development they’ve had to find solutions to their problems.
Surprisingly, Covid-19 seems to be more interested in our political leaders than the common man as many political leaders have been tested positive while others are seeking for refuge where there is none. This has, however, posed a challenge of uncertainties and lack of adequate medical facilities of an effective remedy to the deadly disease; this many people think is as a result of the fact that Nigerian political leaders before now are used to travelling outside the country to treat themselves and never care to develop the medical centres in their home town for the sake of the future.
To complement this claim; do you think if Covid-19 is only in Nigeria our leaders wouldn’t have flown out of the country? Or do you think the son of a presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections would have naturally been admitted in Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital for such confusing disease? Our leaders never thought that a day of such universal confusion will come because they all believe that their power and money will save them from any trouble, and that is why they never took interest in staying at home to develop their own medical centres.
Now that Covid-19 is dealing more with political leaders in Nigeria; if for instance, every political leader that is tested positive is restricted to only treat himself or herself in the medical centres and hospitals in his or her state, do you think many of them will survive? Definitely, most of them will not survive because most medical centres in most states are not developed or well equipped to withstand the pressure of some diseases.
The unbelievable universal activities of the deadly epidemic have demonstrated that the statement “feel at home” is different from “this is your home.” No matter how you feel at home in a foreign country, one day, you would leave for your home country. If one of our presidents would have understood this and had invested the money he used in treating himself in a foreign hospital to develop the hospitals in Nigeria, perhaps, Nigeria would have been competing medically with some advanced countries today and the issue of Covid-19 would have been less confusing.
Now confusion seems to increase daily as Nigeria has no option than to start using whatever level of medical development they’ve had to fight the deadly disease, this, however, should serve as a lesson to every Nigerian that before any other thing, they should consider developing their home first; that is the highest level of patriotism and this is important because nobody knows what the future holds.
As for the roaring epidemic, Nigeria is already a blessed nation that some individuals are trying to curse with their unpatriotic activities; Covid-19 can only trend but it won’t last in Nigeria because Nigerians are loved by God.
Except for this recent epidemic, unlike in other countries, Nigeria does not use to experience any form of natural disaster like earthquake, flood, drought etc. Our only natural disaster which has eaten deep in us is disunity and has led to socio-economic and political degradation.
At this junction, it becomes wise for all Nigerian political leaders and every citizen to know that home is home and home must be firstly developed among every other thing for the sake of the future; you may say it doesn’t concern you but remember that when the boat sinks as it is happening now, it doesn’t know who is the king as everybody will definitely get wet. To be on a safer side, every Nigerian must take up the cross of true patriotism and come back to reality by developing our beloved Nigeria based on our individual’s area of specialization so as not to be shamefully chased away by the same people we seek independent from many years back.
– Ozovehe Moses writes from Kogi state.
