Coronavirus Pandemic
SOME Nigerians have described the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as a blessing in disguise as it sparked waves of innovations, made them discovered themselves and their inherent talents.
They bare their minds in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
They said that in spite of the horrific implications of the pandemic on the global health and the economy, the pandemic had made them to know who they were and what they could do.
Mr Ibukun Adedimeji, a contractor, said that the lockdown occasioned by the pandemic had made him discovered himself, more responsible and sparked waves of innovations.
He said the lockdown made him to discover many things about his family, mostly the failure on his side to spend time with his family to know their problems and their shortcomings.
Adedimeji said COVID-19 had been a blessing in disguise because before its outbreak “it was always work, money and booze,” but with the lockdown, he discovered that he was really a stranger to his family.
He said the lockdown afforded him the opportunity to know the educational standard of his children and made necessary corrections.
Adedimeji said it also afforded him the opportunity to do self-appraisal and made a resolution to stop drinking and be more responsible to his family.
“I discovered a whole new me and a family that had become strangers and rededicated myself to be more responsible.
“In fact, when I calculated how much I had spent on booze and the several risks that I took it was amazing; COVID-19 has forced me to make u-turn,’’ he said.
A civil servant, Mr Ignatius Okoro, noted that COVID-19 had made him to have full knowledge of what his retirement life will look like.
He said though he still had three years in service before retirement, the lockdown had served as an eye opener for him to start preparing towards it.
Okoro said this had become imperative for him not to be redundant and die of boredom before his time when he eventually retired.
“This lockdown is a warning bell to all government officials to start preparing towards retirement, to have something tangible to fall back to.
“Within the lockdown period many civil servants in my category are down with series of ailments because they became inactive and were restricted to a place.
“This is to show that government work will always make one to be active while in service but the moment you are out of service one will become redundant if there is nothing to do,’’ he said.
Also, Madam Abike Osuporu, secretary in a private office, noted that emerging situation with the coronavirus leading to lockdown had created serious anxiety and worry for the immediate and future well-being of her family.
Osuporu said rather the lockdown turned to be a blessing in disguised, adding that the private company where she worked did not pay them March salary and this forced her to proffer solution to the feeding of her family.
According to her, she was forced to learn how to bake and make bean cake, which eventually came as a succour for her family.
“The lockdown coming during the Ramadan fasting period made me to perfect my bean cake and pap making, which turned out to be a profitable venture.
“I am advising every low income earner to please learn a handwork and it will eventually be a useful venture during the lean period.
A geologist, Mr Temilade Ogunbiyi, said he was caught up in the web of the lockdown in Gwagwalada and as public life shuts down with all under strain of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns over food supply became his scare.
He said this had made him to go into farming with the assistance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) N50 billion Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) stimulus package to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on households and MSMEs.
Ogunbiyi said he was lucky to benefit from the disbursement of the TCF to the beneficiaries.
He said going into farming had become imperative for him and he was into vegetable, poultry and banana farming.
Madam Florence Biya, a fashion designer, said the pandemic had sparked her wave of innovation, with the production of internationally acceptable face masks in large quantity for distribution to some unnamed state governments.
She said that the time of crisis had served as time of opportunity for an innovative Nigerian.
Biya said as a step further she was now into production of masks with African prints and also producing to match dress and mask for clients.
She noted that many people, in both urban and rural areas, did not have access to face masks because of its scarcity,
She said that through a joint effort with some of her colleagues, she has captured the markets in the urban and rural areas for the production of face masks. (NAN)
– May 20, 2020 @ 17:09 GMT |
Tags: Nigerians explain how COVID-19 sparks wave of innovations
