Nigeria is confronting a ‘health emergency and an economic crisis", but the lockdown means additional financial pain for millions of informal workers who rely heavily on their daily earnings to survive, with little or no savings.

Many families have stocked- up food and household items, but with a full house at home 24/7, limited electricity supply, amongst other challenges of space for storage, etc, some mothers are concerned that more is being consumed daily, impacting home budgets. 

Staying at home on a ‘lockdown’ impacts all resources, from toiletries, to water, food, electricity and the psychological impact of not knowing the end of this situation, puts pressure on all in a not so positive way, especially in crowded living conditions, which over 60% of the population live in.

Questions being asked include "how do I raise money now that I won't be working for the next few days” and yet we must feed and maintain healthy & happy environments our families?

“Will food items be forced to sell on credit?"

We do know that President Buhari announced a series of measures aimed at relieving some of the economic pain including a three-month moratorium on government loan repayments for government workers.

"For the most vulnerable in our society, the President directed that the conditional cash transfers for the next two months be paid immediately. Internally displaced persons will also receive two months of food rations in the coming weeks," President Buhari has said.

Featured Image: Women sell face masks and gloves, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, to passengers at a public minibus station in Lagos [Sunday Alamba/AP]