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Vaccination: Nigerians Still Do Not Trust Government
One in four Nigerians don’t trust the government to save their lives. And that’s a problem.
Nigeria’s rollout of the coronavirus vaccine had begun – and almost 300,000 of us are already considerably safer as a result.
This should be grounds for national pride and renewed optimism- but 1 in 4 Nigerians don’t trust the government enough to get vaccinated.
A recent survey from the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that only 76% of Nigerians are willing to take the vaccine.
Almost a quarter are not.
To put that in context, there is a deadly disease which has now taken the lives of 2,800,000 people around the world, and damaged the health of at least 165,000 Nigerians. The government is offering all of us the medicine we need to stay safe and healthy – for free – but 1 in every 4 Nigerians do not want it.
One major Nigerian sporting event has already said that vaccination will be mandatory for participants – a glimpse of what we can expect to be typical in many aspects of public life in the months to come – but a quarter of Nigerians still do not want to be vaccinated.
This issue complicates a vaccine rollout programme enormous in scale – aiming to vaccinate 200,000,000 Nigerians by the end of next year – and already made extraordinarily complex by our dilapidated infrastructure and remote rural communities.
How has this happened?
Conspiracy theories do not take root anywhere. They need fertile soil to do so. And sadly this is something we have plenty of in Nigeria.
During the 1996 meningitis outbreak in Kano, six children died after taking an experimental drug created by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, with others suffering lifelong ill-health after receiving the drug. The company eventually paid $75 million to the state and relatives of children who died or were disabled during the trial.
Pfizer are one of the principle Covid-19 vaccine producers. Of course Nigerians are going to be wary – despite studies showing that the Pfizer vaccine is “100% effective and safe.”
And if Nigerians don’t trust scientists, they certainly don’t trust their government.
72% of Nigerians believe the statement “most politicians are corrupt” describes our country well – and six-in-ten say it describes Nigeria “very well”.
Only 39% of Nigerians are satisfied with the way democracy is working in our country, while 60% say they are not satisfied.
And in the era of online misinformation there are plenty of people happy to use the internet to spread half-truths and full-lies that are threatening both our health and our democracy to suit their own agendas.
The only answer is for our leaders to take advantage of the opportunities of the digital age to build trust in our political systems, one voter at a time.
Nigerian politicians do not do enough to engage online. They are happy to throw mud and promises around on social media at election times, but do far too little to meaningfully build relationships with the people who elect them.
Nigerians need to know that their leaders have their best interests at heart. At the digital democracy campaign I lead we’re giving them the tools they need to persuade them, with a free smartphone app called Rate Your Leader.
Rate Your Leader is designed to allow registered voters to directly contact their local politicians – building trust, transparency and accountability and allowing a two-way flow of information which benefits both parties, especially at times of national emergency like this, and allows them to communicate and collaborate to make their communities better.
All of this is done with the touch of a smartphone button from the comfort of the home. People trust people they know. And social media allows them to get to know their local leaders in a very productive and comprehensive manner. And our abuse-proof technology ensures that all communication is courteous and civil.
For a change, Nigerian is at least not bottom of the table when it comes to trust. One survey of neighbours like Benin, Liberia, Senegal, Niger and Togo found that citizens there are even less trusting than in Nigeria, with just 4 in 10 willing to get vaccinated.
But when 1 in 4 Nigerians does not trust the government to give them potentially life-saving medicine, we cannot pretend that urgent action is not necessary to build trust in our democracy. And that action begins online.
Joel Popoola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, digital democracy campaigner and is the creator of the free Rate Your Leader app. Follow Joel on Twitter @JOPopoola
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
