For the first time in a while, I am writing this editorial from somewhere besides my office desk. I am writing from my reading table at home and this is not because I am on a holiday or just feeling lazy but because Miss Rona has confined me and so many others all over the world to our homes. I first heard the term ‘Miss Rona’ few days ago as is being euphemized in some quarters and for a second, I wondered why it wasn’t called ‘Mr Rona’ or ‘Sir Rona’.
In my amazing intern, Oladayo Olukowi’s words, the Corona Virus pandemic is currently sweeping the planet like a wildfire and a hurricane combined and it is scary to say the least. As at 6.55pm Nigerian time today, 26th March, 2020, there are 510,645 total cases and 23,079 total deaths reported worldwide. There have been 122,245 recoveries, however. Whichever way we choose to look at it, the world has been truly humbled by this reality. No one seems to have the answers and we are all united globally in our strong desire to surmount this challenge.

Background:

COVID-19 has proven to be more than a disease or global pandemic, it is proving to be the harbinger of an economic crisis of global proportion. Many businesses are being shut or slowed-down and industrial production and retail sales have suffered historical drops. True to its nature, man is fighting back; from controlling the disease, to curing the sick and trying to develop vaccinations against it. In responding to the economic downturns, some countries have designed both fiscal and monetary palliatives in the nature of laws or executive orders. Nigeria is one of such countries; its House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 passed a Bill to cushion the economic effect of the global pandemic. It is styled as  “A Bill for an Act to provide for Relief on Corporate Tax Liability, Suspension of Import Duty on Selected Goods and Deferral of Residential Mortgage Obligations to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria for affixed term to protect jobs and alleviate financial burden on citizens in response to the economic downturn occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 disease” (the “Bill”). Our summary of the Bill is set out below.