The Igbos have an adage that says that when hills learn to break an old woman’s waist, old women learn to take breaks every now and then as they climb hills. This adage is the same thing as saying that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. I found these sayings appropriate enough to describe what Nigerian traders, especially those in Abakpa Market, Enugu, are doing to sustain themselves during this lockdown.

The worries of every Nigerian at the onset of this lockdown were focused on how Nigerians, especially those that live out of daily incomes, will survive. People complained and cried out bitterly even though they knew the lockdown was for the good of everybody. With time, everywhere became quiet as if people had accepted their fate and gone into starvation. But that was not the case. The truth is that people have discovered how to survive within this lockdown, though they might be endangering their lives and that of those around them.

One of the fears of the numerous Nigerians that went into panic-buying before the lockdown order took effect was that markets will be shut down completely. Even the broadcast of the president that essential services and foodstuff selling will continue did not quell this fear. It was total madness in Enugu on Monday, 31 March, 2020 as people rushed to markets to buy everything they see, even the ones they will not use in the next four months. ATMs also received their share of the madness because some people withdrew money as if ATMs will also be on lockdown. But a few days into the lockdown taught those of us in Enugu the difference between lockdown and shutdown.

The lockdown order issued by Enugu State government affected some traders. Those that do not sell foodstuff were compelled to close shops. This means that buyers cannot go to markets to buy non-edibles and sellers of these goods are banned from operating within this period. But did they obey that instruction? Well that is the essence of this article.

Kindly understand that this essay does not have the intention to witch-hunt anyone. Its sole purpose is to reveal how traders here in Enugu are surviving the lockdown. Hopefully the information will help some people who might need to adopt their methods. So here are these traders’ ways of observing the mandatory lockdown order:

• Renting Out their Shop Fronts: Most of these traders that couldn’t sell within this period rented the fronts of their shops to food stuff sellers. The good thing about this is that as the shop owners make little money from renting their shop fronts, those that rented them saw where to sell their wares. Some of the people that sell things at these shop fronts are not career traders, but people displaced from work because of COVID-19. So in essence, they have found the means of keeping body and soul together until this is over.
• Hanging Around: This was the first thing I noticed when I went to market within this lockdown. I was surprised to see some of my “customers” that were not supposed to be in the market sitting in front of their locked shops and chatting with their neighbours that were also seated at the front of their own shops. It was later that I realised that these people did not come out of their houses to look around and chat; they were waiting for customers. What they do is that if you need something they have, they will unlock their shops, hand it to you and then lock up again. The only thing here is that price haggling takes place before the customer sees what he’s paying for.
• Selling Early in the Morning and Late in the Evening: Some of these shop owners open their shops very early in the morning and late in the evening to sell. Immediately they settle their customers early in the morning, they lock up their shops and then sell in trickles until evening.

It is true that non-compliance with the lockdown order will increase the spread of COVID-19, but people need to eat and take care of other necessities. Since the government cannot provide those things for them, the citizens have to go out to fend for themselves. However, it should be understood that Enugu has no active case of COVID-19 presently. Maybe that is why people still move around despite the lockdown.

On Monday, the US President Donald Trump announced that he is suspending immigration to the United States temporarily as coronavirus continued to ravage the North American country.

“In light of the attack from the invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our Great American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” Trump said in a tweet.

The details of the immigration suspension were not made known, opening room for wide speculation about the form it would take.

While the order is yet to be implemented, some officials of the Trump administration have given hints on what is to be expected. An official said it’s going to involve temporary suspension of work visas for 120 days, green card and family immigration are expected to be halted indefinitely.

Trump said the move has become necessary as part of efforts to save jobs for Americans and mitigate the hardship that coronavirus has brought on businesses.

Since last week, over 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits as more companies lay off workers. The number of coronavirus cases has also surged tremendously amidst lockdown that has paralyzed businesses across states. The number of confirmed cases is getting close to the one million mark with over 47,000 deaths.

But as Trump stood on the pandemic to further restrict immigration to the United States; civil rights groups have condemned the move saying it is one of the discriminatory decisions his administration has been looking for alibis to make.

“This is not about the policy. It is about the message the president wants to send. He wants people to turn against the other,” Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “And regardless of the valuable contributions immigrants are making to the response and recovery, he sees immigrants as the easiest to blame.”

The Trump administration issued a statement to defend the decision. On Tuesday, the White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnary said the order has been in the interest of American workers.

“President Trump is committed to protecting the health and economic well-being of American citizens as we face unprecedented times. As the president has said, ‘decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African American and Latino workers.’ At a time when Americans are looking to get back to work, action is necessary,” she said.

Last month, the US suspended all visa processing as a way of curbing transported infection of COVID-19, after it has agreed with Canada and Mexico to extend non-essential border restriction until the middle of May.

Hard-hit European countries and China had earlier been restricted from travels to the US until the outbreak is contained.

These have contributed to the reasons why activists, including Democratic lawmakers are standing up to the new order.

It is believed that Trump always takes an exploitative approach to events in order to execute his ill-intended plans, especially against immigrants. He was elected through the campaign to purge the US of illegal immigrants and to ban Muslims from entering the country. He has stayed committed to the promise through his attempts to ban many Muslims from entering the US and restrict other countries from certain visas.

His every attempt to shut the door against immigrants has been fiercely resisted, though he has had some wins. In 2019, there were only 30,000 refugees admitted to the US, most of them came from Myanmar, Congo, Ukraine, Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan.

The Department of Homeland Security said that in 2019, just over a million people were granted lawful permanent resident status. The decline in the numbers indicates wins for Trump and his anti-immigration supporters.

America’s strength lies in the diversity of its immigrants, a fact Trump has failed to see from the perspective of the average American. He has been understood to see immigration to be of no benefit to the United States, even though statistics are showing otherwise.

Coronavirus appears to have presented another opportunity for Trump to exploit in his quest to fulfill his campaign promise of limiting the number of immigrants in the United States.

Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, Cal. Wrote on Tuesday after Trump announced that he is suspending immigration on the ground of fighting coronavirus and saving jobs for the American people: “Trump failed to take this crisis seriously from day 1. His abandonment of his role as president has cost lives. And now, he’s shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigration agenda. Enough Mr. President. The American people are fed up,” she said.

Trump’s claim on Monday night is refuted by his support of those protesting the stay-at-home order. He has been pushing for the reopening of the economy as the lockdowns appear to be threatening his chances of reelection.

As the world awaits the details of the latest immigration ban, one thing has become clear; Trump is going to use every opportunity to push his anti-immigration agenda.