Of Gainers, Losers, and Victims: COVID-19 and Securitized Lockdown in Nigeria in Early 2020
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Published:
Aug 30, 2022
Keywords:
COVID-19, Lockdown, Pandemic, Public Health, Securitization.
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Abstract
This paper analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the Nigerian populace from the standpoint of how the socio-positional backgrounds of people accounted for their differential vulnerabilities in that regard. By way of a qualitative analysis that relied mainly on a desk study, the paper posits that the lockdown was over-securitized and anti-people, considering the gale of police brutality and violation of human rights that attended the process. The paper makes a case for a moderately de-securitized lockdown regime that is implemented based on incentivized moral suasion rather than coercion.
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How to Cite
Albert Chuma Okoli, & Dr. Elias Chukwuemeka Ngwu. (2022). Of Gainers, Losers, and Victims: COVID-19 and Securitized Lockdown in Nigeria in Early 2020. PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development (PJGD), 3(2), 62-84. https://doi.org/10.46404/panjogov.v3i2.3940
Section
Research-based/ Original Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
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Amon, J. J., (2014). Health Security and/or Human Rights? In S. Rushton and J. Youde (eds), Routledge Handbook of Global Security. London: Routledge, 293-303
Aradau C. (2004). Security and the democratic scene: desecuritization and emancipation. Journal of International Relations and Development 7, 388–413.
Back, R. E., Morris, S.S. & Bryce, J. (2003). Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? The Lancet, 361 (9376), 2226-2234
Balzacq, T. (2018). The Three Faces of Securitization: Political, Agency, Audience and Context. European Journal of International Relations, 11(2), 171-201
Bertrand, S. (2018). Can the Subaltern Securitize? Postcolonial Perspectives on Securitization Theory and its Critics. European Journal of International Security, 3.3 (2018), pp. 281-299
Big D. 2002. Security and immigration: toward a critique of the governmentality of unease. Alternatives 27, 63–92.
British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] (2020). Coronavirus: Security forces kill more Nigerians than COVID-19. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52317196
Brussevich, M., Dabla-Norris, E., & Khalid, S. (2020). Who will bear the brunt of lockdown policies? Evidence from tele-workability measures across countries. Geneva: International Monetary Fund.
Caballero-Anthony, M. (2006). Combating infectious diseases in East Asia: securitization and global public goods for health and human security. Journal of International Affairs 52, pp. 105–27.
Chung, Ryoa (2017). The securitization of health in the context of the war on terror. National security and global health: the conflict of imperatives. Medicine, Conflict and Survival (online version) DOI: 10.1080/13623699.2017.1327150
Crace, J. & Invernizzi-Accetti, C. (2020). COVID-19 hurts the most vulnerable – but so does lockdown. We need more nuanced debate. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/16/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-economy-debate
D’Arcangelis, G. (2016). Reframing the “securitization of public health”: a critical race perspective on post-9/11 bioterrorism preparedness in the US. Critical Public Health, 27(2), 275–284. DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2016.1209299
De, Indranil (2020). COVID-19: How will the political economy of formal-informal sector play out? DownToEarth (Economy); Available at: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/economy/covid-19-how-will-political-economy-of-formal-informal-sector-play-out-70595
Enemark, C. 2009. Is pandemic flu a security issue? Survival 51: 191–214. Foucault M. 2007. Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the College de France, 1977–1978. Translated by Graham Burchell. New York: Picador.
Faniran, Gbemiga (2020). How the homeless obeyed the stay-at-home order in Nigerian COVID-19 lockdown. UNILag Center for Housing Studies: Available at: http://chsunilag.com/blog/how-the-homeless-obeyed-the-%E2%80%9Cstay-at-home-order%E2%80%9D-in-the-nigerian-covid-19-lockdown
Fidler, D.P. (2000). International Law and Public Health: Materials on and Analysis of Global Health Jurisprudence. Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers, Inc.
Freedman, A. 2005. SARS and regime legitimacy in China. Asian Affairs 36, 169–80.
Garrett L. (1995). The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. New York: Penguin Books.
Giddens, A. (1998). Affluence, poverty and the idea of a post-scarcity society. In K. Booth (ed.). Statecraft and Security: The Cold War and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 308–22.
Gómez, O. A. & Gasper, D. (2013). Human Security: A Thematic Guidance Note for Regional and National Human Development Report Teams. UNDP, Human Development Report Office. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/human_security_guidance_note_r-nhdrs.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2020.
Haberman, M. & Sanger, D. E. (2020). Trump Says Coronavirus Cure Cannot ‘Be Worse Than the Problem Itself’. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-restrictions.html. Accessed July, 20, 2020.
Hanrieder, T. & Kreuder-Sonnen, C. (2014). WHO decides on the exception? Securitization and emergency governance in global health. Security Dialogue, 45(4), 331-348; doi.org/10.1177/0967010614535833
Hansen L. (2000). The Little Mermaid’s silent security dilemma and the absence of gender in the Copenhagen School. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 29, 285–306.
Hjelmgaard, K. (2020). WHO says Coronavirus came from an animal and was not made in a lab.USA TODAY. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/04/21/coronavirus-who-says-evidence-shows-covid-19-not-made-lab/2995236001/
Human Rights Watch (2020). Nigeria: Protect most vulnerable in COVID-19. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/14/nigeria-protect-most-vulnerable-covid-19-response
Mbah, F. (2020). Nigeria announces lockdown of major cities to curb coronavirus. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/nigeria-announces-lockdown-major-cities-curb-coronavirus-200330095100706.html
Nigerian Human Rights Commission [NHRC] (2020). Press Release on COVID-19. Abuja: Nigerian Human Rights Commission.
Nunes, J. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic: Securitization, neo-liberal crisis, and global vulnerabilization. Cad.Saude Publica, 36(4); DOI: 10.1590/0102-311X00063120
Okoli, AC (2014). Of politics and epidemics: A discursive reflection on political epidemiology. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 2(7), 176-180.
Okoli, AC (2016). Security, securitization and the agenda for 'Liberal Security Studies. Online Journal of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, 1(2), 164-173.
Oladimeji, O., Aliba, B., Mbokazi, J., & Hyera, L. (2020). The homeless, inmates and refugees in Africa in the face of COVID-19 outbreak. The Public Health Journal, 13, 306-308.
Oldstone M. (1998). Viruses, Plagues & History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olurounbi, R. (2020). Prognosis: Nigerian Security Response to Covid Is Deadlier Than the Disease. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-05/nigerian-security-response-to-covid-is-deadlier-than-the-disease
Pirages, D. & Runci P. (2000). Ecological interdependence and the spread of infectious disease. In M. Cusimano (ed.), Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda. New York: St Martins Press, 76–93.
Roberts, H. (2019). The Dangers of Securitizing Health. Available at: https://www.e-ir.info/2019/12/04/the-dangers-of-securitizing-health/
Roelen, K. (2020). People in poverty bear the brunt of COVID-19, and the worst is yet to come. Available at: https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/people-in-poverty-bear-the-brunt-of-covid-19-and-the-worst-is-yet-to-come/
Seldin, J. (2020). Coronavirus 'Not Man-Made,' US Intelligence Concludes. Available at: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/coronavirus-not-man-made-us-intelligence-concludes
Singh, S.K. (2019). Infectious Diseases, National Security and Globalisation. World Affairs, 23(1) (Spring).
Strauss, D. (2020) UK Economy Faces 35% Quarterly Plunge If Lockdown Lasts. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/2c4b2ad9-6b7f-44a7-87ca-64475365ad96
Stritzel H. (2007). Towards a theory of securitization: Copenhagen and beyond. European Journal of International Relations 13, 357–83.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] (2020). Accountability and the prevention of corruption in allocation and distribution of emergency economic rescue packages in the context and aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic. New York: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Vuori J.A. (2008). Illocutionary logic and strands of securitization: applying the theory of securitization to the study of non-democratic political orders. European Journal of International Relations 14, 65–99.
Waever O. (1995). On securitization and desecuritization. In RD Lipschutz (ed.), On Security. New York: Columbia University Press, 1–36.
WHO (2020a). Corona Virus: Overview. Available at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1
WHO (2020b). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 94. Available at: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200423-sitrep-94-covid-19.pdf
WHO (2020c). Health Emergency DashboardWHO (COVID-19) Homepage: Available at: https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnY1FoOiL3hoZr0kzTK2tY4fNrnhOEFq5txo980pUQC-eBF7PU_uqsaAv21EALw_wcB).
Wilkinson C. (2007). The Copenhagen School on tour in Kyrgyzstan: is securitization theory useable outside Europe? Security Dialogue 38, 5–25.
Wishnick, E. (2010). Dilemmas of securitization and health risk management in the People’s Republic of China: the cases of SARS and avian influenza. Health Policy and Planning 25,454–466, doi:10.1093/heapol/czq065
Yuk-ping, C. L. & Thomas, N. (2010). How is health a security issue? Politics, responses and issues. Health Policy and Planning 25, 447–453, doi:10.1093/heapol/czq063
Aljazeera (2020). UN raises the alarm about police brutality in COVID-19 lockdowns. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/raises-alarm-police-brutality-covid-19-lockdowns-200428070216771.html
Amon, J. J., (2014). Health Security and/or Human Rights? In S. Rushton and J. Youde (eds), Routledge Handbook of Global Security. London: Routledge, 293-303
Aradau C. (2004). Security and the democratic scene: desecuritization and emancipation. Journal of International Relations and Development 7, 388–413.
Back, R. E., Morris, S.S. & Bryce, J. (2003). Where and why are 10 million children dying every year? The Lancet, 361 (9376), 2226-2234
Balzacq, T. (2018). The Three Faces of Securitization: Political, Agency, Audience and Context. European Journal of International Relations, 11(2), 171-201
Bertrand, S. (2018). Can the Subaltern Securitize? Postcolonial Perspectives on Securitization Theory and its Critics. European Journal of International Security, 3.3 (2018), pp. 281-299
Big D. 2002. Security and immigration: toward a critique of the governmentality of unease. Alternatives 27, 63–92.
British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC] (2020). Coronavirus: Security forces kill more Nigerians than COVID-19. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52317196
Brussevich, M., Dabla-Norris, E., & Khalid, S. (2020). Who will bear the brunt of lockdown policies? Evidence from tele-workability measures across countries. Geneva: International Monetary Fund.
Caballero-Anthony, M. (2006). Combating infectious diseases in East Asia: securitization and global public goods for health and human security. Journal of International Affairs 52, pp. 105–27.
Chung, Ryoa (2017). The securitization of health in the context of the war on terror. National security and global health: the conflict of imperatives. Medicine, Conflict and Survival (online version) DOI: 10.1080/13623699.2017.1327150
Crace, J. & Invernizzi-Accetti, C. (2020). COVID-19 hurts the most vulnerable – but so does lockdown. We need more nuanced debate. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/16/covid-19-coronavirus-lockdown-economy-debate
D’Arcangelis, G. (2016). Reframing the “securitization of public health”: a critical race perspective on post-9/11 bioterrorism preparedness in the US. Critical Public Health, 27(2), 275–284. DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2016.1209299
De, Indranil (2020). COVID-19: How will the political economy of formal-informal sector play out? DownToEarth (Economy); Available at: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/economy/covid-19-how-will-political-economy-of-formal-informal-sector-play-out-70595
Enemark, C. 2009. Is pandemic flu a security issue? Survival 51: 191–214. Foucault M. 2007. Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the College de France, 1977–1978. Translated by Graham Burchell. New York: Picador.
Faniran, Gbemiga (2020). How the homeless obeyed the stay-at-home order in Nigerian COVID-19 lockdown. UNILag Center for Housing Studies: Available at: http://chsunilag.com/blog/how-the-homeless-obeyed-the-%E2%80%9Cstay-at-home-order%E2%80%9D-in-the-nigerian-covid-19-lockdown
Fidler, D.P. (2000). International Law and Public Health: Materials on and Analysis of Global Health Jurisprudence. Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers, Inc.
Freedman, A. 2005. SARS and regime legitimacy in China. Asian Affairs 36, 169–80.
Garrett L. (1995). The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. New York: Penguin Books.
Giddens, A. (1998). Affluence, poverty and the idea of a post-scarcity society. In K. Booth (ed.). Statecraft and Security: The Cold War and Beyond. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 308–22.
Gómez, O. A. & Gasper, D. (2013). Human Security: A Thematic Guidance Note for Regional and National Human Development Report Teams. UNDP, Human Development Report Office. Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/human_security_guidance_note_r-nhdrs.pdf. Accessed July 15, 2020.
Haberman, M. & Sanger, D. E. (2020). Trump Says Coronavirus Cure Cannot ‘Be Worse Than the Problem Itself’. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-restrictions.html. Accessed July, 20, 2020.
Hanrieder, T. & Kreuder-Sonnen, C. (2014). WHO decides on the exception? Securitization and emergency governance in global health. Security Dialogue, 45(4), 331-348; doi.org/10.1177/0967010614535833
Hansen L. (2000). The Little Mermaid’s silent security dilemma and the absence of gender in the Copenhagen School. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 29, 285–306.
Hjelmgaard, K. (2020). WHO says Coronavirus came from an animal and was not made in a lab.USA TODAY. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/04/21/coronavirus-who-says-evidence-shows-covid-19-not-made-lab/2995236001/
Human Rights Watch (2020). Nigeria: Protect most vulnerable in COVID-19. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/14/nigeria-protect-most-vulnerable-covid-19-response
Mbah, F. (2020). Nigeria announces lockdown of major cities to curb coronavirus. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/nigeria-announces-lockdown-major-cities-curb-coronavirus-200330095100706.html
Nigerian Human Rights Commission [NHRC] (2020). Press Release on COVID-19. Abuja: Nigerian Human Rights Commission.
Nunes, J. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic: Securitization, neo-liberal crisis, and global vulnerabilization. Cad.Saude Publica, 36(4); DOI: 10.1590/0102-311X00063120
Okoli, AC (2014). Of politics and epidemics: A discursive reflection on political epidemiology. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 2(7), 176-180.
Okoli, AC (2016). Security, securitization and the agenda for 'Liberal Security Studies. Online Journal of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, 1(2), 164-173.
Oladimeji, O., Aliba, B., Mbokazi, J., & Hyera, L. (2020). The homeless, inmates and refugees in Africa in the face of COVID-19 outbreak. The Public Health Journal, 13, 306-308.
Oldstone M. (1998). Viruses, Plagues & History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olurounbi, R. (2020). Prognosis: Nigerian Security Response to Covid Is Deadlier Than the Disease. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-05/nigerian-security-response-to-covid-is-deadlier-than-the-disease
Pirages, D. & Runci P. (2000). Ecological interdependence and the spread of infectious disease. In M. Cusimano (ed.), Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda. New York: St Martins Press, 76–93.
Roberts, H. (2019). The Dangers of Securitizing Health. Available at: https://www.e-ir.info/2019/12/04/the-dangers-of-securitizing-health/
Roelen, K. (2020). People in poverty bear the brunt of COVID-19, and the worst is yet to come. Available at: https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/people-in-poverty-bear-the-brunt-of-covid-19-and-the-worst-is-yet-to-come/
Seldin, J. (2020). Coronavirus 'Not Man-Made,' US Intelligence Concludes. Available at: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/coronavirus-not-man-made-us-intelligence-concludes
Singh, S.K. (2019). Infectious Diseases, National Security and Globalisation. World Affairs, 23(1) (Spring).
Strauss, D. (2020) UK Economy Faces 35% Quarterly Plunge If Lockdown Lasts. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/2c4b2ad9-6b7f-44a7-87ca-64475365ad96
Stritzel H. (2007). Towards a theory of securitization: Copenhagen and beyond. European Journal of International Relations 13, 357–83.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC] (2020). Accountability and the prevention of corruption in allocation and distribution of emergency economic rescue packages in the context and aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic. New York: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Vuori J.A. (2008). Illocutionary logic and strands of securitization: applying the theory of securitization to the study of non-democratic political orders. European Journal of International Relations 14, 65–99.
Waever O. (1995). On securitization and desecuritization. In RD Lipschutz (ed.), On Security. New York: Columbia University Press, 1–36.
WHO (2020a). Corona Virus: Overview. Available at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1
WHO (2020b). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – 94. Available at: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200423-sitrep-94-covid-19.pdf
WHO (2020c). Health Emergency DashboardWHO (COVID-19) Homepage: Available at: https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0YD4BRD2ARIsAHwmKVnY1FoOiL3hoZr0kzTK2tY4fNrnhOEFq5txo980pUQC-eBF7PU_uqsaAv21EALw_wcB).
Wilkinson C. (2007). The Copenhagen School on tour in Kyrgyzstan: is securitization theory useable outside Europe? Security Dialogue 38, 5–25.
Wishnick, E. (2010). Dilemmas of securitization and health risk management in the People’s Republic of China: the cases of SARS and avian influenza. Health Policy and Planning 25,454–466, doi:10.1093/heapol/czq065
Yuk-ping, C. L. & Thomas, N. (2010). How is health a security issue? Politics, responses and issues. Health Policy and Planning 25, 447–453, doi:10.1093/heapol/czq063