In what appears to be the usual Nigerian style of governance where laws are made to oppress the poor, Nigerians from all social class breathe the same air but are never treated equally in other issues of life when governance policies are drafted.
Considering the collateral effect of almost three months lockdown of the whole country, the poor and the utmost poor who constitute the over 80% of Nigerian population, these vulnerable citizens have been the most “hitted” by the “sit-at- home” protocol and guidelines prescribed by government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
Majority of these vulnerable citizens get their families going by traveling to nearby States to do their buying-and-selling daily businesses.
In their prolonged sit at home due to the novel Coronavirus, majority of the people have eaten deep into the capital of their petty trading, while few are praying for the States and Federal government to lift the ban to let them go on with their daily businesses.
But the Federal Government of Nigeria yesterday June 1, 2020 while designing an updated protocol to regulate movements in the country has fixed June 21, 2020 for domestic flights resumption and kept interstates land traveling restricted till further notice.
Resuming domestic flights is not different from allowing traveling from one city or State to another by road. While flights move humans and goods, vehicles do the same thing. One infected passenger in a flight can infect a community and a passenger who travels by road as well, have the tendency to spread the virus on the same reach if he is infected.
The social class dichotomy should not further be emboldened between the poor and the rich when designing policies of survival for Nigerians.
