Tackling the Pains of Coronavirus Lockdown Through Palliatives in Nigeria: Addressing the Gaps and Critical Strategic Issues

AbstractOn March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded the status of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19 outbreak, from epidemic to pandemic. Ever since then, the world has been reeling from the catastrophic spread of the virus. Consequently, Nigeria rolled out a couple of measures to reduce the spread of the virus in the country in keeping with WHO guides. In addition, the Federal Government and most States in the Federation declared lockdown in the state and closure of states and national borders. Citizens including the poorest of the poor were required to stay at home. The Federal and State governments promised palliatives to cushion the harsh effect of the lockdown. It is however disturbing that while the people remained at home hungry the palliatives were not only slow in coming but haphazardly and unwholesomely implemented. The study investigated the effectiveness and interrogates the template used in distributing the palliatives to the poor. It is also part of the objective of the paper to find out how politics and data affected the implementation of the palliatives meant to alleviate the pains of the lockdown associated with COVID-19. The study used qualitative descriptive approach, utilizing robust data from official documents. The results showed that the templates used in the distribution of the palliatives were highly ineffective and that inadequate data base and politics negatively impacted on the implementation of the palliatives meant for the poor. The study recommended among others  that for strategic reasons ,sufficient and  disaggregated data should be generated, updated, and stored for future use in Nigeria  for the purpose of bringing the warmth of governance to all who are in need.