Of Gainers, Losers, and Victims: COVID-19 and Securitized Lockdown in Nigeria in Early 2020

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.