Women and children fell to the ground, bloodied and trampled in a desperate surge for food being handed out in a Nairobi slum, as police fired teargas and men with sticks beat the hungry. As African countries grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, observers warn that the traumatic scenes which played out last Friday will not be the last if governments fail to help millions of urban poor who live hand-to-mouth.

“I give them (the government) one to two weeks before things get worse. Not in terms of coronavirus, but in terms of hunger,” said Kennedy Odede, who runs Shining Hope For Communities (SHOFCO), a grassroots movement which works in the Nairobi slum Kibera and other informal settlements in Kenya. “If it continues like this, we might be playing with fire.”

Kenya has so far cordoned off the capital and parts of its coastline and imposed a night-time curfew and other social distancing measures. Many of these restrictions are having a wrenching impact, causing loss of jobs among the poor, said Odede. While President Uhuru Kenyatta has wielded the threat of a full lockdown to get citizens to comply with the rules, officials admit it is an agonising choice, especially as 60 percent of Nairobi’s residents live in slums. “Locking up people in the slums will be the last option. A lot needs to be done before that,” a high-ranking security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

– ‘Unenforceable and unsustainable’ –

The coronavirus arrived late in Africa, but is slowly taking hold with over 15,000 cases and 800 deaths across the continent. While much of the developed world waited weeks to begin taking action, countries in Africa rapidly shut borders and banned mass gatherings. Mauritius, Rwanda and Tunisia were the first to impose full lockdowns — with Mauritius going so far as to shut supermarkets and bakeries for 10 days.

South Africa is the biggest economy on the continent to completely confine its citizens, while Nigeria imposed lockdowns on Lagos — the continent’s largest city — and its capital Abuja, which on Monday were extended for another two weeks.

Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/starve-or-get-sick-africas-lockdown-dilemma.html

hmm.
The world is in peril and security is out of the window.
If now we don't be humans, what's the point of us!
Humankind is in turmoil and anxiety is running amok.
If now we don’t be responsible what's the point of us!
Neighborhoods are wailing in fear and desperation.
If now we don’t lend a hand what's the point of us!
Communities are struggling in crippling uncertainty.
If now we don't break narrowness what's the point of us!
Nations are panting to sustain health and sanity.
If now we don't rush to rescue what's the point of us!
Nature is revolting to reclaim her kingdom.
If now we don't make peace with her what's the point of us!
Now is not the time for theorizing and criticizing.
Forgetting argumentation we must stand as one people unbending.

Mismanagement is Nigeria's problem...... The ability of the government to manage the citizens and provide adequately is one key factor that all our leaders are yet to possess....



The other day, someone told me that, after this pandemic, our health sector will experience a greater change and will likely be the best in Africa....

I laughed and asked him why.... He said, because our leaders must have learned from this experience....


I asked him to recall that, Obasanjo was in the prison and was made a president from the prison... He must have seen how deteriorated the defunct NPS was and he sat as a democratic president for 8years and did nothing to upgrade the Prison's standard....

Stealing, self-enrichment and greed is what has been killing every Nigerian.... For us to get there.... we must be very contented and the government must a play a vital rule to provide us with steady light and make food items very affordable.... So that, someone can manage N5,000 for a month and still live a satisfying lifestyle....

Abeg generous nairalanders help me with any amount you have let me buy two cups of rice and eat today I didn't even eater rice on Easter Day

Please i and my family might die out of hunger by the end of this week





2262999223 Zenith bank

May God bless you