Africa's megacity Lagos braces for two-week lockdown
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's announcement imposing a 14-day lockdown on sub-Saharan Africa's biggest city triggered a last-minute rush on Monday as persons hurried to stock up on food and other supplies.
Traffic snarled the streets and touts made quick money taking cash to let persons leave cars in no-parking zones. "Everything is expensive, may God help us," said Jimoh Kolawole at the Oyingbo market on Lagos Island. "Rice, beans, cassava grain and palm oil are all expensive, even onions. Only God can help us." he said, the back of his car loaded with sacks of flour, rice and yam.
Both Lagos and Abuja, the administrative centre, will ban movement for 14 days from Monday night. Lagos, the epicenter of Nigeria's coronavirus outbreak which includes so far spawned 111 confirmed cases, is home to at least 20 million people. Most of them dwell in slums and eke out a living at the best of that time period. Social safety nets do not exist.
"It isn't easy at all, even to buy one week's food, talk less of fourteen days," said Omolara Adejokun, an evangelist who lives off donations from her preaching.She said her family simply didn't have the money to get in bulk.
