Reviving Kano economy post Covid-19

Published 21 Jun,2020 via The Nation - THE sudden spread of the coronavirus from its initial epicenter of Wuhan, Hubei Province of China, to over 100 countries has had devastating consequences on the affected countries in addition to the huge human cost in the forms of morbidities and mortalities with about seven million people directly affected. The pandemic has brought the global economy to its knees due to restrictions in social and economic activities with the hardest hit being the education, transportation, tourism, health, and international trade sectors. In fact, the devastating negative effects of the pandemic – politically, socially, economically, religiously, educationally and financially – cannot be quantified and it is feared it will take ages before things return to normal.

With the closure of many factories and business concerns following the imposition of lockdowns, millions of people have lost their jobs or have their businesses crippled. In the US alone, over 40 million people have lost their jobs, which is the highest figure in decades. These stringent curtailment measures resulting in severe economic recession require comprehensive strategy by governments and multi-lateral agencies so as to reboot the various sectors that make up the economic matrix so that the affected countries can get themselves out of the woods after the removal of the lockdown and other restrictions, though the recovery cannot be immediate in view of the enormity of the economic stagnation.

Emerging economies’ woes like Nigeria’s was further compounded by the drastic drop in crude oil prices from as high as $70 per barrel pre-Covid-19 last year to as low as below $20 per barrel early this year. While the US resorted to taking a whopping loan of $3 trillion, Nigeria had to source for an external loan of $5.5 billion to shore up this year’s budget. Upon realizing that humanity now has to live with the Covid-19 virus, countries must come up with measures to curtail its debilitating effects, map out strategies to resuscitate the ailing national economies and possibly find effective vaccine and cure against the novel virus.