Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus causing the COVID19 disease, over 234,000 people have died from more than 3,270,000 cases worldwide while about 1,020,000 have recovered. China, the epicenter of the viral disease, built in 10 days a hospital dedicated to taking care of the victims. Many countries including Nigeria converted some public places to isolation centers. Many communities are on lockdown. Many countries have banned flights to and from their airports.
After an unnamed Italian imported the virus to the country, Nigerians are making it a spiritual affair, some are even making room for humour, despite the potential consequences. Like the ebola crisis period, many misinformation have also spread along with, if not faster than the virus itself.
The spiritual side
Some Nigerians believe that coronavirus is a “spiritual attack” on the world and a spiritual defense is needed to combat it. It has been included as “prayer point” in several churches. Perhaps the best example of this spiritual side is in Prophet David Elijah of the Glorious Mount of Possibility Church in Lagos who said in a video that has since gone viral that he was going to “China to go and deal with Coronavirus”.
“I am going prophetically to destroy coronavirus,” Elijah said in the video.
See the video herehere.
Apart from the man of God who is going to prophetically destroy the virus, there are other faith-influenced memes making the rounds like the ones below.
Humor Covid19
Even in the face of potential disaster, humour is never lacking in the country. No wonder the country was once rated as having the happiest people. Several memes have been made just to get a laugh off the virus. One of the most popular of this category is a video by Nollywood actor, Williams Uchemba. In the video, the actor played a crying coronavirus making a call home that Nigeria is not conducive for it to thrive.
And here are other memes too in that category.
An opportunity to learn history
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, several references have been made to the Spanish influenza of
1918-1919. Surprisingly, details about how Nigeria was affected has been dug out, something that may have never become popular again if the Covid19 had not happened.
#istandwithpastorsam_adeyemi that’s number of death recorded here in Nigeria in 1918 caused by Spanish influenza.. pic.twitter.com/39FzPF0XAz
— Adeyemi charles (@Yemade007) April 8, 2020
Fake news
Crisis allows fake news to thrive. The social media is awash with fake news on the virus, but thanks to determined journalists and fact checkers, many of the ridiculous lies about the virus have been exposed. For example, a write up claiming to be from Stanford University on how to check if one had the virus has been debunked as lies. Many more will still be discovered and exposed.
Opportunistic scams
On March 29, President Muhammadu Buhari issued a lockdown order in Abuja, Ogun and Lagos, the epicenter of the Covid19 disease in Nigeria. The stay-at-home order ignited a fresh reaction. Scam.
Phishing scam rose with a measure of success for the first few days. The scammers sent out messages on WhatsApp to folks telling them the government wants them to access some money and they are to fill an online form. People who fell for it unknowingly gave out their passwords along with bank details to the scammers. Other variants of the scam involve claims that mobile networks are giving free data or Netflix is doing a promo. They are all scams.
Conspiracy theories
Not very long into the lockdown in some states and restriction of movements in others to curb the spread of the Covid19-causing coronavirus, different theories started arising. Spread mainly through WhatsApp videos were people claiming that 5G infrastructures and not coronavirus was responsible for the illnesses and death around the world. The claim started with random posts on social media, many of them non Nigerians. Then some popular Nigerians took the baton. Popular among these were former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye. He claimed in a video that 5G network waves were dangerous to human health and that is what is responsible for Covid19. A popular pastor in the country, Chris Oyakhilome also came forward, implicating the 5G network as a tool of the antichrist dishing out the coronavirus. He later recanted.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, one of the biggest Pastor in Africa and probably in the world is also pushing this 5G “New World Order” #COVID19;. pic.twitter.com/vuy44eJDm2
— Wale Gates 🇳🇬🇬🇧 (@walegates) April 4, 2020
Violence
Violence is fast becoming another reaction to the pandemic and its resultant disruption of livelihood means. In towns around the borders of Ogun State and Lagos, there have been distress calls with videos to show the assailants.
Uncertainty, death and clash of culture in Kano
Weeks into Nigeria’s battle to stop the spread of the pandemic, grave diggers in Kano raised the alarm of a sudden rise in engagement. The spotlight was beamed on the state and the National Center for Disease Control was blamed by some in the social media for “failing Kano”. However, the state authorities announced that the deaths were unconnected to the Covid19 pandemic. The number of people who died ‘mysteriously’ in the state in the last weeks is rumoured to be 640.
‘Verbal autopsies’ would be conducted on the dead as many of them were buried very soon after they died according to Islamic tradition.
Meanwhile, Kano with 219 confirmed cases has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the country after Lagos with 976 cases. The total confirmed cases in the country is 1,932 as of May 1.
You can follow up on the most up-to-date statistics on Covid19 here.
Notwithstanding the increasing number of cases, the authorities have relaxed the total lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states. The announcement has been met with mixed reactions, but one can only wait to experience how it will work out.
Kindness, solidarity, innovation, revelations, bonding, creativity and many more have also been witnessed since Nigeria began actively fighting the pandemic. In the end, the extremes don’t matter as long as the novel virus does not eat away at the most populous black nation on earth.
