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COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A PANDEMIC THAT HAS DRAMATICALLY 

CHALLENGED AND CHANGED, AND CONTINUES TO 

CHALLENGE AND CHANGE OUR LIVES AND WAYS OF DOING 

THINGS LIKE NO OTHER IN RECENT TIMES 

 

Remy N. Onyewuenyi, CSSp, PhD (Very Rev Fr. Prof) 

Vice-Chancellor, Spiritan University Nneochi, Abia State, Nigeria 

 

 

Being a Lead Paper presented at the 2021 International Conference on 

the Theme: COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons and Challenges for Africa in a 

Changing World, hosted by Thomas Aquinas Initiative for Catholic 

Education (TAICE) in collaboration with Spiritan School of Philosophy, 

Isienu-Nsukka & aihwa Center for Integrated Health Care in Africa, 

from February 25
th

 to 26
th

 2021 at Spiritan School of Philosophy, Isienu-

Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria 

 

INTRODUCTION 

I am very much at home with monitoring changes and developments. My most 

recent publication titled The Villagescape of My Yesteryears (July 2020) tried to 

capture the changed and still changing villagescape of the village of my birth – 

Egbelu-Nguru – in Imo State. In some earlier articles and publications, I have 

documented The Role of Railway Development and the Growth of Export 

Agriculture in Nigeria: 1900-1950 (1981);The Effect of Railway Construction on 

the Growth of Export Agriculture: The Nigerian Experience (2011); The Evolution 

and Spatial Diffusion of Informal Sector Activity in Nigeria: 1900-1989 (1990); 

and How an Educational Institution can Transform the Spatial-Economic 

Landscape of a Rural Community: The Federal Polytechnic Idah Experience 

(2015). Dramatic as they are, none of the above changes and developments can be 

compared with the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

Permit me to appreciate the foresight, courage and sense of corporate 

responsibility of the organizers and financiers of this Conference: Thomas 

Aquinas Initiative for Catholic Education (TAICE), Spiritan School of 

Philosophy, Isienu-Nsukka and aihwa Center for Integrated Health Care in 

Africa. Getting involved in initiatives of this magnitude deserves encouragement 

and appreciation. 

 

The Conference Theme: COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons and Challenges for Africa 

in a Changing World is a very relevant and timely one in the context of what we 

all are going through right now worldwide. The pandemic nature of the effects and 

impacts of COVID-19 is succinctly captured by the multivariate nature of the 

Conference‘s sub-themes, especially in the African context. I have no doubts 



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whatsoever that the various presenters and discussants will do justice to these sub-

themes in their chosen areas, and I equally hope that we will all be greatly enriched 

by these contributions in our understanding and management of the challenges 

confronting us as a result of this deadly COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

This presentation focuses, in a summary form, the writer‘s particular areas of 

interest on the Lessons and Challenges of COVID-19 pandemic for Africa in a 

Changing World. 

 

LESSONS AND CHALLENGES  

When the news of Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was publicly declared in late 

December 2019, Health officials cited Wuhan‘s Huainan Seafood Wholesale 

Market, China as ground zero for the pandemic. Ever since then there have been a 

global debate and all sorts of ―Conspiracy Theories‖ over how the pandemic began 

including its alleged links with the G5 technology. Even as we speak, in some 

quarters of our climes, this deadly virus is still viewed with skepticism. Yet its 

devastating effects are being felt in every aspect of our human existence. It has 

radically challenged and changed some of our ways of doing things and introduced 

the era of New Normal. The new normal has exposed our various levels of 

vulnerability, weaknesses and unpreparedness in healthcare, education, economy 

and infrastructure supply sectors. Africa should count herself blessed because her 

death toll of COVID-19 has not been as alarming as in the continents of Europe, 

Americas, Asia and the Pacific. I want to underscore the fact that Africa is blessed 

because if continents and countries with far better economic infrastructure and 

medical facilities fared so badly in COVID-19 death toll, imagine what could have 

happened to Africa with her very fragile, unstable and insufficient or deficit 

economic and healthcare infrastructures. 

 

By near universal proclamation, the year 2020 – The COVID-19 Year - is globally 

believed to be a very difficult and challenging, if not the worst, year in not-so-

recent memory as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic 

and the damages it has inflicted and continues to inflict to our emotional, physical, 

and fiscal health continue to reverberate twelve months after the country has 

declared a public health emergency. In this time, millions worldwide have been 

hospitalized or quarantined, thousands have died, millions of workers have been 

laid off, companies, industries and institutions have collapsed, and many 

economies have been distressed, regressed or depressed. Yet, right now, we are not 

out of the woods. 

 

Olanrewaju Apata (2021), the Public Relations Officer, Ibadan JAMB Zonal 

Office, summarizing his impressions on the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic 

wrote: Long before the face masks became a part of our accoutrements, before 

social distancing became the norm and entered the lexicon, and long before 



Onyewuenyi                                                           Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pandemic… 

3 

 

sanitizers became a part of our lives, only a few appreciated the long-term benefits 

of aiming for the best in our formal and informal lives. The current COVID-19 

pandemic is an adversity that mankind is learning to grapple with and by so doing, 

the world is not only learning to live with the deadly virus, but also made certain 

compromises that have altered and reshaped the way we once lived our lives. Just 

like the industrial revolution, forced on man, new ways of doing things, the 

pandemic is slowly changing corporate life. As the private sector continues to 

count its losses while adjusting to a pandemic that has cut into profits, disrupted 

production and taken a toll on the workforce, among others, the public sector, 

indeed, had not fared much better as government at all levels had to grapple with 

the angst of citizens who were forced to endure crippling lockdowns and other 

constraints. 

 

Impacts on Education and Educational Institutions 

Commenting on the collateral damage done to the Nigerian education system by 

the coronavirus pandemic recently, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (2020), the Vice President 

of Nigeria observed thus: The emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic has, no 

doubt, adversely affected the education sector and the economy at both the 

national and global levels as schools and businesses have been forced to shut 

down. Perhaps, one of the lessons learnt from the ravages of the pandemic is that 

the Nigerian education system should henceforth be driven by innovative 

educational technology for both learning and teaching if our children are to be 

globally competitive (JAMBulletin, Vol. 1 No. 98, November 16, 2020, p.2). 

Echoing similar sentiments, the Federal Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu 

Adamu (2021) said: Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the 

early part of 2020, the first major step taken as a nation was to close down all the 

teaching and learning facilities nationwide in March 2020. Upon the nationwide 

closure, we proceeded to float online learning facilities. The major challenges we 

had were electricity and internet access for teachers and learners. Consequently, 

while some learners continued their education, others, especially in the rural areas 

could not, thereby putting our learners at different levels of exposure. 

 

In general, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weakness of the education 

system in many developing countries and the urgent need on how to improve the 

sector through technology and mobilization of critical support. For many 

Universities and educational institutions in Nigeria, the COVID-19 threat became 

real around the third week of March 2020 when the federal government ordered 

the immediate closedown of academic activities as a measure to control the spread 

of the virus. Their world changed rapidly. The suggestion or rather the order to 

shift academic activities into virtual classes or moving classes online became a big 

puzzle, to say the least, as most institutions were quite unprepared for this. This 

new way of service delivery in the education sector posed a huge challenge to 

institutions, staff and students alike. The former Executive Secretary, National 



                                                                       Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(2), 2021 

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Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola (2021) lamented that,in Nigeria, 

the delivery of academic curriculum in over 90 per cent of the public schools was 

halted and only some rudimentary form of online teaching and learning was 

implemented in about 28 per cent of the private schools during the COVID-19 

lockdown. Challenging as it was initially, it got everyone creative in moving some 

of the academic activities to virtual. 

 

The decision to fully move academic activities online required a great deal of 

planning and funding. For example, the needs of students with economic insecurity 

for public resources, such as Wi-Fiaccess, needed to be factored in the planning 

and funding. Although, it is a reality that owing to government‘s other priorities, 

education does not seem to receive its fair share of the national budget, the 

situation got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that institutions and individuals alike 

are better off if they build resiliency into their everyday structures and processes. 

For institutions, that means providing tools needed to foster good collaboration and 

services that are easily accessible. For individuals, that means taking advantage of 

those tools, services and opportunities to ease stress or anxiety. 

 

With reference to the acquisition of new skills occasioned by the pandemic, the 

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ali Pantami, recently 

(20/10/2020) urged Universities to emphasize more on skills acquisition than paper 

qualification, adding that such would make graduates self-reliant. According to 

him, in developed countries, less preference is given to paper qualification and 

more to skill acquisition. Paper qualification is supposed to be a validation of the 

skills acquired (Cf. Education in The Media in JAMBulletin, Vol.1 No.95, October 

26, 2020, p.4). 

 

Impacts on Economy and Workplaces 

The economies of many countries have been shattered by the pandemic, and these 

economic challenges are impacting people‘s lives and choices radically. In the job 

market and employment sectors, generally things have gone from bad to worse: 

unemployment figures shot up, many of those who had jobs lost them as industries 

and organisations were forced to shut down by lockdowns and restrictions, those 

who had still their jobs went without salaries for months because of poor cash-flow 

and returns. Many small businesses are ailing; the hospitality industries have been 

decimated, some others are shedding workers. 

 

The pandemic dealt a heavy blow on the Nigerian film industry, one that it is still 

yet to recover from. Due to the closure of cinemas across the country for months, 

films initially slated for release suffered delayed-release. However, video on 



Onyewuenyi                                                           Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pandemic… 

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demand (VOD) platforms are on hand to save the situation, by bringing film lovers 

some of the anticipated films of the year. 

 

The shutdown of tourism has a massive impact on many African countries, like 

Kenya and Tanzania, with tourist economies. Figuring out how to get euros or 

dollars flowing in while still protecting citizens‘ lives was a challenge for these 

countries. Balancing the risks and rewards has not been an easy one. Worldwide, 

the tourism industry accounts for more than 330 million jobs. And it is estimated 

that about 121 million of these jobs have been lost due to the pandemic. In other 

words, in tourism-dependent countries and regions, the pain from COVID-19-

induced shutdowns is amplified (Cf. Bruce Wallin, 2020). 

 

Admittedly, the global coronavirus pandemic has stunted some personal 

development among many, but it has also been observed that some trends,like 

digital transformation, that help others to reignite their ambitions have been 

accelerated by COVID-19. Technology and digital connectivity have advanced so 

far and so fast that some people have started to ask, ―Do we really need to be in an 

office, together, to do our work?‖ It seems that with the growth in virtual jobs, 

one‘s physical location is becoming less relevant as one can work-from-anywhere. 

COVID-19 has fast-forwarded digital adoption by at least five years. A good 

number of persons have experienced some form of ―skill transformation‖ since the 

start of the pandemic.And since the world has moved a very significant proportion 

of its normal operations on online, tech skills are no longer limited to tech roles. 

Like it or not, digital skills are now part of almost every role. Technology industry 

leaders like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are looking for 

digital skill sets that include engineering, digital transformation, security, and tech 

infrastructure. 

 

In the ICT world, also, many programme developers have added features that are 

aimed at bringing some ―zen‖ into the mostly-online life: multitasking got better; 

more delight for more people; more control over when Facebook can collect your 

information, etc. In the area of Virtual Meeting Skills, applications like Zoom, 

Google Classroom and Microsoft Meet, etc. are becoming household names.It is a 

fact that cannot be denied that accessing services and resources through digital 

means increased very significantly during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. 

Videoconferencing via Zoom, Pace, etc. helped to alleviate loneliness, bridged the 

gap of feeling alone and wanting to feel connected. 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine not only created an explosion in demand 

for streaming video, they very significantly increased our vulnerability online. All 

that streaming created a chance for fraud, in the form of bots pretending to be 

people streaming shows in order to cash in advertisement money(Cf. Mitch 

Wagner (2021). How an Oracle team spotted ‗StreamScam,‘ the biggest connected 

TV ad scam yet in Oracle News Connect, January 21, 2021). 



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Impacts on Our Psyche and Mental Health 

While COVID-19 has affected and continues to affect us physically, the 

restrictions and changes to our lives have significantly affected and continue to 

affect our psyche and mental health. It has been argued that an idle mind is the 

devil‘s workshop. The sharp rise in the cases of domestic and sexual violence and 

abuses during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and restrictions as observed by 

Social Scientists, especially criminologists and demographers, seems to justify the 

above saying. Also, the huge success of the #EndSARS Protest may be attributed 

to the fact that youths who have been out of schools and classrooms for a very long 

time found the movement a very veritable opportunity and outlet to expend or vent 

their long-bottled energy and frustration. 

 

No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought incalculable suffering and trauma. 

A good number of people have lost loved ones and jobs. Some COVID-19 

survivors are still dealing with brutal symptoms, months after they contracted the 

disease. People have been trapped at home on account of lockdowns and a good 

number of people are struggling with loneliness. Marriages and families have been 

pushed to the breaking point and beyond. In the words of Matt Simon (2020), ―the 

pandemic shook the existence of all humanity.‖ These COVID-19-induced 

existential crises have led many to begin to wonder: What is the meaning of life? 

Who will we be when this is all over? 

 

The pandemic has made glaring inequities in our society more glaring than ever. 

This means that some communities and individuals have faced more trauma than 

others, and will enter recovery with fewer resources. This implies that: Who we 

become during and after the pandemic depends on our systemic privileges. 

 

Impacts on Supply and Demand Chains 

An 82-year-old woman recently packed her granddaughter‘s car trunk full of 

food—including bags of rice, pasta, and powdered milk—just in case the essential 

health care worker with two jobs didn‘t know where her next meal would be 

coming from. The wise old woman knows what we all should know: Hunger is a 

silent sickness. People with jobs as well as those without don‘t have enough food. 

Workers providing essential services are hungry. College and University students 

are hungry. Children are very hungry. In America, for example, the nonprofit 

group Feeding America estimated that more than 50 million people experienced 

hunger in 2020 including 17 million children. Even before COVID-19, more than 

35 million Americans were considered food insecure. The pandemic exacerbated 

the problem. Now, one in six people in the U.S. are projected to be hungry this 

year. What is your projection for Africa? 

 

Food banks and other service providers are working aggressively to keep up with 

demand. From March through the end of October, 2020 U.S. food banks 

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Onyewuenyi                                                           Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pandemic… 

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distributed 4.2 billion meals. More than 80 percent of food banks are serving more 

people than they did last year (2019). Safety nets are being stretched by the historic 

need. Two thirds of Feeding America’s food banks are accepting volunteers. 

Before COVID-19, food banks depended on nearly 2 million volunteers per month. 

Since the pandemic began, volunteerism is down as the need accelerates. 

 

The Nigerian equivalent of meeting the food needs of those in most critical 

situations is termed Palliatives. Governments at various levels exploited this 

programme. The full impacts of these political palliatives are yet to be determined. 

But for sure, during this COVID-19 era, the word palliatives gained some 

prominence and frequency in usage; and the price of food and food items soared 

during the pandemic as demands outstripped production and supply. 

 

Impact and Pressure on Drug Manufacturers 

As the new coronavirus continued its infectious rampage, extreme pressure was on 

drug-makers to quickly introduce vaccines and treatments that can stop the spread 

of COVID-19. In the pursuit of COVID-19 treatments and production of vaccines, 

Nigerian institutions and research facilities have been lagging far behind on 

account of required infrastructure deficiency. For example, running computer-

generated simulations that help discover these new drugs takes massive computing 

power and many Nigerian institutions do not have access to such resources. What 

is on ground at the moment is not built for this kind of speed the COVID-19 crisis 

demands. It would take months, if not years, to run some of the most processor-

intensive jobs on those systems, as modelling billions of molecule combinations 

against the key proteins that COVID-19 needs to reproduce requires enormous 

calculations. All hope is not lost worldwide as leveraging on some of the available 

and affordable high-performance computing and cloud-based animation rendering 

platforms or technologies, such as GridMarkets located in Oracle Cloud data 

centres around the world, is yielding positive results. 

 

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic reality became shockingly clear, it 

was hard to imagine that we would have a vaccine before the year ended, 

considering the time it usually takes to get these drugs through clinical trials. At 

that time, World Health Organization‘s (WHO) immediate challenge and priority 

centered on dealing with the virus‘s effects on the human population: how to treat 

it medically, what factors are helping it spread, what strategies are working to try 

to stop transmission. ―We needed to learn very quickly what this virus was and 

what were the best ways to prevent illness and death‖, stressed Margaret Harrist 

(2020), a WHO spokesperson.  

 

But the past few weeks have seen astounding progress on that front, with vaccines 

approved for use in multiple countries, and additional promising candidates on the 

horizon, thanks to new and advanced technologies. While the vaccine news is 

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                                                                       Aquino Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 1(2), 2021 

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reason for cheer, it is clear this is only the beginning of the end. Basic precautions 

such as hand washing, wearing of masks, and social and physical distancing will 

be more crucial if we hope to stay alive much longer here on earth. It has been 

observed here in Nigeria that government‘s efforts to control or reduce the spread 

of COVID-19 do not seem to produce their desired effects because it seems a good 

percentage of the population does not trust the government. For whatever reasons, 

there is a loss of confidence in the government and its agencies. Alhaji Ahmed 

Matane, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Chairman, Niger State Task 

Force on COVID-19 voiced his disappointment in this regard when he said: In 

spite of massive advocacy and sensitisation by the government, it is disappointing 

to see the crowd at worship centres, banks, markets, motor parks across the state 

flouting the coronavirus guidelines. We will be forced to take the painful decision 

of bringing the State under the COVID-19 Preventive, Containment and 

Emergency Order if it remains clear that Nigerlites are determined to flout the 

rules‖ (Cf. News Agency of Nigeria, 2020).Perhaps, thorough organisation, 

science-based research findings, and shared clear public health messages that tell 

the citizens exactly how to guard themselves and fellow citizens against the virus, 

might change the narrative. Government‘s actions are hugely important as action 

speaks louder than words and proclamations. 

 

CONCLUSION 

As awful as the pandemic has been, perhaps it has elicited some positive changes 

within us and within communities or countries. We have learnt some new things, 

other ways of doing things, and reprioritizing our values and expectations. We 

have also come to a fuller realisation of our capacity to a lot of growth when we go 

through hard things both as individuals and as communities or institutions. 

This pandemic will not last forever, but there will always be a new challenge to 

meet down the road; and there is no downside in being prepared. In other words, 

the pandemic has not only taught us but has reinforced the need to learn new skills 

and retool for an uncertain future. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Onyewuenyi                                                           Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pandemic… 

9 

 

 

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