Mr. Emmanuel Abimbola is an auto mechanic at Egbeda, under Alimosho local government area of Lagos state. He has three apprentice and makes an average of N10,000 to N15,000 daily.
However with the total lockdown of Lagos, Ogun and the FCT by the Federal government on March 31 to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus, Mr. Abimbola said he had been living from hands to mouth.
His type of work is not among those in the category exempted from the lockdown and his source of living has been largely affected. He is presently at the receiving end of the lockdown in a one-room apartment where he lives with his wife and three children.
“We have been at home for more than two weeks now and I know what I am facing at the moment as a family man,” he says. “I must feed my family, you know, and I will pay some bills including my shop and house rent which are all due at the end of this month.”
Abimbola situation is not peculiar to him alone. Several other self-employed Lagosians are facing similar dire situation, and with no palliatives extended to them since they are not considered among FG’s poorest of the poor.
While the government paid the March salaries to civil servants, no palliatives or relief packages were provided for residents like Abimbola who closed their businesses and don’t have government-related jobs.
In Nigeria, Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] contribute 48 percent of the GDP, 96 percent of businesses and 84 percent of employment. According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, there are about 17.4 million SMEs accounting for about 50 percent industrial jobs and nearly 90 percent of the manufacturing sector in terms of number of enterprises.
And closing or suspending these businesses for even a day, has some staggering consequences.
Another trader who operates a gift item shop in Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos, Mrs. Beatrice Okonkwo, is also full of lamentation.
According to her, she had just borrowed huge sum of money to stock her shop few days before the lockdown was announced.
“I didn’t know it would be so soon. I wouldn’t have placed an order for the goods. They have been locked up inside my shop and I know they would have been damaged by now.”
While the government’s move to put a lockdown in place was commended, economic experts disagreed with the approach, arguing that some form of palliative programmes would have also been announced by the government to help small businesses and families who are largely affected by the global pandemic.
