The Positive Side Of COVID-19 By Ozodinukwe Okenwa
In everything in life there is positive and negative sides. The positive side of our existence individually could be said to be when we were born. And the negative remains the end of it all -- death -- when we inevitably answer the call of the grim reaper one way or another, violently, peacefully or otherwise as determined by fate. Every human being is subjected naturally to this cradle-to-grave diktat imposed by the Creator upon the Adamic disobedience as contained in the scriptural Garden of Eden tale.
Now, when we fight wars (civil, terrorism or international) for example, the negative side could be destruction of lives and properties. Collateral damage, as they call it, is inevitable in such brutal circumstances. And the positive aspect of a conflict could be a radical change of an anti-democratic entity and consequent betterment of a given society.
The Coronavirus pandemic has effortlessly changed our world affecting everything from communal living to the economy. It has had global socio-political reverberations. While acceptable remedy is still far off we are scarily confronted daily with statistics of deaths and contaminations in different countries and continents.
While COVID-19 has wrecked enough havoc already in terms of global health and economy there are positive sides (benefits) derivable from the pandemic. In Nigeria Coronavirus has since demystified power by taking souls of the powerful away -- Abba Kyari, Dahiru Saleh (remember the June 12 nemesis?), prominent royal fathers up north etc. 
SOC Okenwa
Besides, those suffering from the Methuselah complex or syndrome had had their longevity myth thrown overboard proving their marabouts and fetish priests wrong! COVID-19 appears to have the 'number' of the aged to the point that many elderly men are scampering for safety as more and more of their peers had been taken down and out as 'Coro' travelled far and near.
Indeed, there is immense benefits from the dangers of Coronavirus and the challenges it poses to our collective existence. Hospitals are being equipped, upgraded or constructed; medical personnel are being treated fairly and the inestimable value of public health is being taken seriously by the (mis)ruling elite for the first time ever.
The other positive aspect of the dreaded global epidemic has to do with the lockdowns and curfew regimes. Freedoms are being re-defined to suit the exigencies of the trying times. Fathers were being forced to be good responsible husbands as the philandering lot among them 'abandoned' their concubines and mistresses outside matrimony, confined at home.
The positive side could include the bad business suffered by crooks and criminals who usually operated at wee hours of the night as good men slept. Though crime and criminality festered during lockdowns and curfews in a densely-populated city like Lagos many security agents smiled to the banks as extortions mounted on the roads and brutalization and extra-judicial killings reared their ugly heads.
Another positive side includes the savings that accrued to our corrupt nation as the lockdowns, closure of land borders and airports and other restrictions lasted. If not for COVID-19 millions of Dollars would have since been wasted by the parasites in power for their foreign junketings and holidays! Now the homefront is where things happened!
If not for 'Miss Corona' parading her magnetic beauty on our faces as it were thus exposing our lack of preparedness for any national challenge or emergency the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari, could have been alive today because he would have since jetted off to London or Saudi Arabia in desperate search of solution to his health challenge. Alas, he died battling 'Coro' in Lagos!
Now, with Corona in town our local and state and national officials are looking inwards for solutions to beat the invasion of our space by a plague misunderstood by many folks even today. Efforts are being made internally to maximise the capacity and manpower of our hitherto neglected health centres.
If our President has an issue today medically with his body (including ear infection or whatever) he would no longer jet off in a jiffy to London to keep appointment with his sophisticated British doctors. Aso Rock Clinic would have to be equipped to function optimally to service his medical needs.
Of course there are many lessons to be learnt from the COVID-19 global attack. The mortality of man is brought to the fore! Besides, many atheists have had a field day by insinuating that the Supreme Being could not have been in existence yet His children are being sent to six feet below without celestial intervention through Pastors, Imams or other religious leaders.
Again we have been forced to learn that sometimes in life arms and ammunitions do not count! The super-powers are strategizing and re-strategizing on how to beat a highly-contagious 'flying' malady with high mortality rate. Imagine the almighty America still groping in the dark on how to 'manage' the scourge that has killed thousands of her nationals on a scale almost beyond belief.
The COVID-Organics from Madagascar has thought us how the 'best' could come from Africa. While the herbal concoction advertised presidentially in Antanarivo as a sure way to beat Coronavirus has its medical merits --- and demerits --- controversy trails its contents and efficacy. Yet countries (including Nigeria) continue to place orders, sometimes nocturnally!
The young President Andry Rajoelina could be playing politics with the herbal local product that allegedly cures Coronavirus but the World Health Organization owes it to humanity to give him the benefit of doubt by encouraging the local scientists that came up with the 'wonderful' product.
If COVID-Organics is tested and it 'delivers' then there should be no need for controversy. What matters significantly is saving lives!
SOC Okenwa
soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr
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