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Abstract of The Coronavirus and Human Security in Nigeria
The study examines the the Coronavirus and Human Security in Nigeria.
Qualitative method was used in gathering information in the study, which means it is going to be depending on secondary sources of data. The sources in aid of the research are mainly from textbooks, magazines, journals, encyclopaedias, and articles from newspapers, seminars and internet sources. The research method was explanatory and descriptive in its analysis of the data collected from the different sources used for the research work.
The results revealed that; COVID-19 Pandemic has an impact on the health sector, especially health facilities and access to health care services; COVID-19 Pandemic has impact on employment and poverty situation in Nigeria; COVID-19 Pandemic has effect on food security in the country; government could do better in ensuring adequate human security provision under this COVID-19 Pandemic particularly.
The study concludes that; the COVID-19 has been a huge problem to Nigeria and countries around the world. The study further recommended that; the government should focus more on human insecurities among its people without there being a crisis that would trigger this reaction; There is a need for a thorough selection process of hospital employees for this purpose; They should consider data-driven approaches in the allocation of funds to areas of need; Nigeria’s health sector should provide its people with vital health care facilities, regardless of their place in the country; A forum would need to be coordinated by governments to pull together the different related industries involved in extension and information services; there is need for increase of minimum wage to ensure that even the lowest in the working class have enough money to fend for their needs and that of their family therefore relieving Economic insecurity.
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Chapter One of The Coronavirus and Human Security in Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The world is increasingly becoming a precarious place, with human beings facing threats on many fronts. Prolonged wars, armed conflicts, natural disasters, chronic violence, epidemics and economic downturns inflict difficulties and threaten opportunities for prosperity, security and sustainable growth (UN Trust Fund for Human Security, 2009). These crises are dynamic and serve as threats to human security. However, COVID-19 which first emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China; has emerged as one of the greatest threats to human security with cases running into hundreds of thousands and millions infected across the globe. With its reach to almost every country around the world, the World Health Organization on the 11th of March 2020 described it as a pandemic A pandemic can be described as a worldwide or very wide-ranging disease that crosses international borders and usually affects a large number of people. (Last, 2001). And this pandemic has shaken the very core of human security by threatening the health and wellbeing of individuals all over the world, especially those in developing and underdeveloped nations like Nigeria. It has caused the citizens of Nigeria and around the world to be insecure and the goal of human security is to prevent these insecurities. To do this Human security has to:
…to protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfilment. Human security means protecting fundamental freedoms; freedoms that are the essence of life. It means protecting people from critical (severe) and pervasive (widespread) threats and situations. It means using processes that build on people’s strengths and aspirations. It means creating political, social, environmental, economic, military and cultural systems that together give people the building blocks of survival, livelihood and dignity (United Nations, 2003, p. 4).
Furthermore, in most nations including Nigeria, military security subsumes all other forms of security like economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security, others which are very essential for the wellbeing and fulfilling the citizens’ right to human security (UNDP., 1994). Nigeria unfortunately gives less attention towards human security. Observed through various factors such as corruption, underfunding of essential sectors, mis implementation or just generally non-implementation of development policies, have affected Nigeria’s Human security from growing to the security of ideal international standard.
But COVID-19 has actually worsened the situation in the country, generally because of lack of concentration on key three forms / pillars of security that are very essential at this time; they are: The Economic security, Food security and Health security. Economic security is simply put according to Baldwin in 1997, as, a separate type of security intended to ensure minimum loss to a collection of economic values. While according to the World Food Summit 1996 food security is seen as “…existing when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” (World Food Summit, 2015). And finally, health security according to Aldis (2008), can be simply seen as securing health itself.
In addition, to curb the spread of virus in the country, the Nigeria government imposed a lockdown on March 30th 2020 on Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, with President Muhammadu Buhari according to Aljazeera, saying, “All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes. Travel to or from other states should be postponed. All businesses and offices within these locations should be fully closed during this period,” (Mbah, 2020). This actually was the genesis of the increase in the problems; with individuals losing their jobs, therefore increasing the unemployment and poverty rate in the country affecting the economic security; and with an increase in poverty comes an increase in food insecurity. And finally, it opened up the flaws of the health and other welfare sectors in the country. It is upon this premise that this research work seeks to investigate the Corona Virus and human security in Nigeria.
Statement of Problems
In an ideal environment where human security is said to be fully protected should encompass food security, economic security and health security, which are the top three that are really needed in a pandemic out of the seven forms of human security mentioned before. Therefore, with the goal of human security according to the United Nations (2003, p. 4) as being “…to protect the vital core of all human lives in a way that enhances human fulfilment and freedom,”; an ideal state focuses on enhancing human freedom and fulfilment and human security is at the core of states security.
In reality, there has not been enough focus on human security and its key forms in Nigeria; with the presence of food insecurity, economic insecurity and health insecurity spiralling the country. Therefore, problems causing health insecurities are identified in the lagging of the public health sector in the Country. With it having inadequate facilities due to being a lack of proper financing or laundering of funds, the shortcomings in administration and human resources, fake drugs circulation, lack of qualified medical personnel, poor health services and amenities, and poor sanitation.
This is why the immediate past Chief Medical Director of the University of Oyo Teaching hospital, Professor Etete Peters, expressed dismay over the funding of healthcare institutions in the country Nigeria, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the lapses in the sector (Anthony, 2020). This point was also raised by Femi Gbajabiamila, expressly stating that the virus “brought out the underbelly of the country”. He went further to also say that, “we did not even have a health sector, we only have a semblance of a health sector” (Sherifat, 2021). Generally because of the state of things in the country, where healthcare strikes happen practically every year, with one even happening in the midst of the pandemic in September 2020 by the Joint Health Workers Union of Nigeria, who just demanded for the government to address infrastructural problems in the sector, payment of Covid-19 hazard allowances for their members, adjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure, and payment of all outstanding salary arrears (“Nigeria ‘health workers strike’ update & why JOHESU trade union go nationwide strike,” 2020)
Another problem faced are economic and food security issues. Unemployment has increased due to the laying off of workers and people that depend on face-to-face interaction to make money left jobless. With some workers being laid-off because of financial problems in some organizations; caused by the pandemic. This issue caused an increase in the poverty rate and unemployment numbers in the country to 40 per cent living in poverty and 13.9 million unemployed youths (World Bank, 2020). Establishing economic insecurities and indirectly food insecurity in the people because poverty leads to malnutrition, reducing the access to food. increased food prices have also caused these problems to worsen. With people suffering from no physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that would meet the dietary needs and food preferences of individuals (Shaw, 2007). For this reason, this research seeks to study Human Security in Nigeria and how the Corona Virus has affected it.
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