By Olanrewaju Adesanya
SUNRISE NEWS, Lagos, July 16, 2020 A Non-profit, Non-Governmental Organisation, Blossom Africa Initiative has called on governments to safe livelihoods as it is trying to safe lives in this perilous time the world is faced with this global pandemic.
According to a statement signed by the President of the organisation, Mr. Temitope Musowo, he said the Coronavirus has turned out to be not only a health crisis but economic and political crises as well and the government must balance all together in its approach to handling the lethal virus.
“We have on our hands a global pandemic that has proven not to be only health crisis but economic crisis as well, as much as we need to safe lives we also need to safe livelihoods
This is a lethal pandemic ravaging the globe no doubt, one can not also shy away from the fact that livelihoods are being affected daily, people are losing their jobs, businesses are closing down, poverty is on the increase , people are groaning under serious hardship, the government need to do something.
We know with the increasing number of cases and record of deaths daily, it has become more imperative to safe lives, of course we need to adhere strictly to all the safety precautions and guidelines recommended by the medical experts, at the same time we must safe livelihoods or what is life without livelihood”, the President said.
The NGO known for advocacy for the actualization of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) maintained that a larger percentage of women in Nigeria depend on the informal sector for their survival and that of their families, especially the female headed households, a sector that has been badly affected by the pandemic.
Mr Musowo added that, “government must come to people’s aid, the vulnerable and the maginalised groups must be helped. More palliatives is needed from government and corporate bodies, no only in terms of food items alone, but financial assistance as a buffer to dying businesses.
This pandemic is no time for fiscal distancing, financial institutions must do re-profiling of loans through temporary forbearance to create fiscal space for businesses to thrive.
The NGO however commended the Federal Government for the COVID-19 loan to hundred of thousands of small-scale businesses and households. The various intervention programmes of the Nigeria government at this period was commendable while it ask for more.
“Of course, we know this is uncharted water but we need to constantly review our precautions and strategies to reflect our local reality, by now we should know that there is no one -size- fits- all approach to this issue, so each nation must develop its own home grown approach.
We will defeat coronavirus the same way we defeated Ebola in Nigeria, let’s think about life post- pandemic, if all means of livelihoods are sacrificed to safe lives, how do we cope post-pandemic.
Shouldn’t we be thinking of how life can continue alongside with the virus incase it doesn’t go so soon, as we hope for the best it is not out of place to also prepare for the worst, that is why life must continue”, he concluded.