Even by March 2021, she was still struggling to pay back 12,000 Naira ($29) she had borrowed to buy food for her family while she was unemployed. Okuomo finally found a new job sweeping roads in November 2020, but the price of food, water, and other essentials – which have risen sharply during the pandemic – forced her to take a second job. But the Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating economic impact, with the World Bank forecasting in January 2021 that the pandemic will result in an additional 10.9 million Nigerians entering poverty by 2022. “We our fill in the morning, and sometimes at night we just soak two handfuls of garri and sleep.”ĭuring the first year of the pandemic, the rates of confirmed Covid-19 cases and related deaths in Lagos, and Nigeria as a whole, did not come close to what many feared when the virus first emerged in February 2020. People who used to eat three meals are now eating one,” she said in August 2020. Within a few months, Okuomo had exhausted her meagre savings and was unable to put enough food on the table for her children. Nigeria’s social security system does not guarantee benefits to people who lose their jobs. But the university was shut down in March 2020 to prevent the spread of the virus, and Okuomo, as a casual worker, lost her income. Prior to the pandemic, Okuomo worked for 13 years cleaning dormitories at the nearby University of Lagos, earning 18,000 Naira (US$44) a month. Let them look for a solution, so we don't die of hunger. They should think about the fact that it is the poor people that suffering the most. Narration: The federal and Lagos State governments should increase support for families, like Margaret’s, and they should build well-funded social security systems to tackle widespread poverty. We have been hearing rumors that the government shared money and food, but in our area we didn't see anything except from organizations. Narration: The federal and Lagos State governments promised cash transfers and food handouts to help people through the pandemic, but they only reached a fraction of households needing support. But as Corona came, these days, everybody is just there, no work. In the neighborhood we are managing small small, everybody is hustling for their life. Nigeria’s under-resourced social security system struggled to respond to the impact of the pandemic. Narration: Margaret lost her job as a cleaner in March 2020 and scraped by for more than six months without any government support. But we still thank God we didn't die of hunger or coronavirus. Sometimes at night we just soak two handfuls of garri for dinner and sleep. The number of Nigerians experiencing hunger more than doubled during the pandemic. Narration: The Covid-19 crisis has had a devastating economic impact on families living in or near poverty in Lagos State. People who ate three meals are now eating one. We don't eat the way we used to eat before. I was born 1980, and I live in Isale Akoka Bariga.
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