Assessing The Covid-19 Induced Stay At Home Measure And Social Defiance By The Poor In Rivers State, Nigeria
Raimi Lasisi Ph.D
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Keywords: COVID-19, stay at home, social defiance, poor, Rivers State
Abstract
The study assessed the COVID-19 induced stay at home measure and social defiance by poor people in Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve this objective, the study relied on the use of observation and content analysis techniques for data collection. The Marxist Political Economy theory was adopted as a theoretical framework as well as an additional method of data analysis to support the largely thematic approach. Based on this, the study established the fact that the stay at home measure to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rivers State generated social defiance among poor people who are mostly engaged in informal economic activities such as petty roadside buying and selling as well as unemployed persons who live their lives based on daily income. Hence, the defiance of the ruling class stay at home directive represents a way of gaining socioeconomic balance by the poor masses despite being sandwiched between two evils comprised of the COVID-19 on the one hand and hunger on the other. The study concludes that adopting the western approach of stay at home is impracticable given the massive poverty in the state. Hence, it was recommended that where business by substitution is not feasible, the government should ensure that foodstuffs are effectively distributed to poor households in a sustained manner. This will ensure that people stay at home without unduly risking their lives to engage in nocturnal business to avoid trigger happy security agencies who are charged to enforce the directive.