In 2017, I got a job as a Content Writer. I remember attending the interview all suited up and carrying my leather briefcase; but on getting to the company; I saw a bunch of young people in T-shirts and Jeans on their laptops, eating and gisting. I felt uneasy the whole time I was there, as I looked different. The Hiring Manager and CEO walked up to us (other interviewees and myself) and explained the nature of the job. “You wouldn’t need to be physically at work for anything, just make sure your computer is connected to the internet. You would get paid for each content you write”.

I didn’t even have a laptop then, but I was provided with one the following day?. I started working from home. Each night before I went to bed, I set up tasks to deliver the following day, and worked assiduously towards completing and delivering them to the clients. I communicated with the clients over the phone, and reached out to my supervisors whenever challenges arose, all these happened with no form of physical contact. Once I got bored of working from home, I got out into my favourite Café or Ofada spot, both at Maryland Mall. I quickly realized that ‘work’ is not a place or physical building as I have always thought.

Fast-forward to February 2018, I got a job as a Finance Analyst with a financial services firm. I resumed and had to acclimatize to wearing corporate suits, ties and shoes, going to ‘work’ every day, sitting in front of my desktop computer and using spreadsheets to communicate the organization’s performance to management for decision-making. Honestly, it was difficult adapting to this new environment, but I put my professional career before anything else.

A Disease was born

In December 2019, the first case of novel Coronavirus was discovered in Wuhan, China, and spread throughout most nations of the world, including Nigeria. The Federal Government of Nigeria initially declared a two-week curfew, following the global social-distancing measure, and further extended it as the number of cases increased.

The COVID-19 pandemic (as christened by the W.H.O) poses to be a serious threat to organizations, economies and people. This is a time of crisis as Gartner’s recent Business Continuity Survey shows just 12 percent of organizations are highly prepared for the impact of coronavirus.

Business owners, regardless of the lock-down, want to service their clients, ensure business continuity, and retain talents. Smart CEOs quickly made changes to their Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) just in a matter of hours.

Remote Working is not all rosy too

Most organizations did not predict a pandemic that was going to halt business activities and the global physical movement of persons and goods. Quick decisions were made by the Top Management to change the business process leading to the rapid digital transformation of the workplace.

Working remotely…first, everyone was happy?, but then after a couple of days, we all got bored?…argghhh!!!

The major challenges of remote working in Sub-Saharan Africa are Technology and Power. At the very least, a Tech Infrastructure — a computer, fast internet -, and constant electricity- is needed to set up a remote work environment. In Nigeria, where we all look up to God for basic amenities, plant our internet modems in a static position in our rooms because that is the only place where the network is available, and then pray fervently to get power; these challenges are ubiquitous and almost inevitable in this side of the world.

The challenges above affect both the employees and employers productivity. For employers who want the business to continue, a significant relief fund has to be provided to employees to cover for the outrageous amount spent on internet data and fuel. In addition to this, collaboration and productivity tools — Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, Google Drive, among others — should be available to employees.

Minor challenges include employees’ indiscipline and lack of continuous commitment while working from home. The world today is filled with distractions- movies, music, social media, etc., and one way of avoiding distractions is to stay disciplined. I would not advise employees to shut their phones out as colleagues might try to reach out; however, putting in certain measures to help stay focused is key.

Remote-Working – Benefits

One of the benefits of remote working is not commuting to work. I remember working at Yaba while living at Iyanapaja. I would leave home at 4.45 am every day to arrive at work past 7 am. I would also leave work at 6 pm to get home a few minutes before 9 pm. That denotes roughly 5 hours spent commuting on the road. I still have colleagues going through this process daily. 5 hours spent commuting per day amounts to 54 days annually. That is aside the mental stress employees go through, the amount spent on fuel and maintenance of their vehicles. Working remotely, obviously, eliminates all these.

In addition, operational and staff costs reduce, and employee productivity increases.

Decentralization but Harmonization

COVID-19 is a phase, and will surely pass. The most resilient CEOs would prove themselves by adjusting their business processes following changes in the business environment.

CEOs, especially those in the financial services sector, should continuously update their BCPs and change their mode of operations.

Companies with no buildings but with strongly collaborated teams would thrive, as bigger buildings and numerous staff does not depict a strong workforce. CEOs should understand that “huge buildings do not portray a strong workforce; collaboration does”. A new thought approach of decentralizing, but harmonizing the workforce should be implemented. Better collaboration tools should be developed, and productivity will continually increase.

It is no surprise that farmers, meat producers, and other players in the agricultural space can neither find buyers nor procure inputs for production amid the pandemic. This phenomenon can be easily traced to the lockdown and uncoordinated nature of the industry’s supply chain.

I was on a call with my dad the other day, he is a trained veterinary doctor and runs a fishery and piggery in Imo state. He lamented on how it has become difficult to get the feed the animals required and how if this lingers, he may be forced to euthanize a good number of them to reduce the burden of feeding and sell some others as prices have dropped.  

This phenomenon is currently playing out in the different segments of the industry, affecting the entire value chain. The restriction of movement has impeded farmers from farming, and food processors from processing without fear, as well as a potential shortage of farm inputs, which could affect food production.

Nigeria’s agricultural sector is made up of predominantly smallholder farmers (circa 80%) – they usually own small plots of land of less than a hectare, on which they grow one or two crops at micro and small levels. The sector contributes 25% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for 48% of the labour force. The sector’s growth rate over the last 5 years averaged 4%. Crop production dominates the sector, accounting for 22.6% of GDP alongside livestock (1.7%), fisheries (0.5%) and forestry (0.3%).

In the last five years, government has devoted a lot of energy at deepening the industry, with an initiative like the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), ban on the importation of some agro commodities and the shutting down of its land borders, all without addressing fundamental issues of mechanisation, irrigation, seeds, extension service, insurance, research and development, among others.

As the reality of the impact of COVID19 hit the economy, coupled with the crash in the price of crude oil, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emiefele, in a recent report titled, “Turning The COVID-19 Tragedy Into An Opportunity For A New Nigeria”, said in line with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari, the apex bank has created several lending programmes and provided hundreds of billions to smallholder farmers and industrial processors in several key agricultural produce.

The looming crisis:

Fall in Production: The lack of inputs for existing producers in various segments of the industry such as seedlings and fertilizers for the crop growers; cattle and poultry feeds or fingerlings for meat producers, among other inputs will greatly affect overall production. With a domestic production gap pre-COVID19, a further decline will lead to shortages and thereby causing a rise in price of the available produce. For a population that has experienced declining earning and purchasing power due to the pandemic, a rise in price will lead to more hardship and poor nutrition.

Increased Wastage: It may appear counterintuitive to say there will be a fall in production and then wastage. This isn’t far-fetched as the produce available cannot easily get to markets and store shelves due to the restrictions placed by the Federal and various state governments to curb the spread of the virus. The Nigeria agricultural value chain has an inter-dependent nature, where production can be done in one geopolitical zone, with the target markets being in another. This can be seen in the case of cattle and vegetables, which come predominantly from the Northern region to the rest of the nation.

With lack of access to the market, farmers will be forced to either sell-off their ready produce at give-away prices, donate the excesses to charity organizations or watch them spoil if they are perishable. 

Increased Unemployment: With the lack of inputs, fall in production and ultimate decline in revenue or its total obliteration, farmers and numerous players along the value chain will close down shop as business will struggle, leading to their employees being laid-off, with no alternate source of livelihood. Knowing this segment barely has enough to live by and having savings to fall back on is a luxury they don’t have; the threat of increased risk of depression and other health-related risks cannot be overemphasized. The ripple effect of job loss alone is enormous.

What needs to be done

The ravaging pandemic has offered Nigeria a unique opportunity to organize the agricultural supply chain. The food supply chain, which is the system that takes food from farm to fork through production, processing, distribution, and consumption, can be designed more efficiently and made robust. The development of such a highly effective supply chain is dependent on the level of cooperation and coordination between existing private players.

Other key solutions include:

• The Expansion of the Essential Service List and Adequate Sensitization of Lockdown Enforcement Agencies: The current list of essential services as designated by His Excellency, President Buhari, includes food processing, distribution, and retail companies. It is equally important to include food production to the list. The sensitization of the various enforcement agency on the need to grant free passage to logistics companies carrying produce across states is key. I understand the risk of inter-state transmission of the and propose that the relevant health agencies work with the ministries of agriculture and transport,  to produce a common health-code that will guide the transportation and distribution of produce across the nation, to curb the spread of the virus and possible contamination of produce.  

• Ecommerce Operations Expansion and Improved Partnerships with Experts:  Creating access to finance and a ready market are great advantages firms such as Thrive Agric, Farmcrowdy, PorkMoney and Kerekusk Rice, among others have brought. However, for us to effectively fill the gap, productivity needs to be emphasized, as Nigeria continues to suffer low levels of agricultural productivity due to infrastructural deficit and practice of obsolete farming methodologies across the country. “Data from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) shows that Nigeria has the least average yield per hectare of five selected crops, among its African peers like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia”. This boost in the face of the pandemic can be achieved through partnership with indigenous experts, such as IITA and PRODA Enugu, among others, for quality seedling and other inputs, supply of locally fabricated equipment as importation isn’t an option at this time, as well as adequate training of farmers.

• State-Led Initiatives: It is time state governments stop playing second fiddle in the development of the nation. They have more power and influence than they choose to admit or care to utilize. I saw a report of an initiative by the Cross-River state government in producing and distributing rice seedlings initiative. This is being done, even as the threat of the pandemic spreads towards their state. State governments can also develop and implement targeted policies to encourage the small farm owners and other players to keep production level steady, through but not limited to special grants and input supply.

• Establishment of Make-Shit Markets: Knowing that not all Nigerians are tech savvy or have a smartphone to order their needs online, it is important to consider the “off-grid” population.  I suggest a review of the lockdown order, to create better access to essentials in a safe environment by creating make-shift markets, under the supervision of the state for absolute compliance from all. This can be modelled to be neighbourhood-centric, to reduce over population and further spread of the virus.

Yes, the pandemic is deadly, so is hunger. We all- Government, Private sector and citizens- need to work together to weather this storm. Nigeria 

References

(NIPC), Nigerina Investment Promotion Commission, 2020. NIPC. [Online]
Available at: https://nipc.gov.ng/opportunities/agriculture/

BusinessDay, 2020. Businessday. [Online]
Available at: https://businessday.ng/agriculture/article/prospects-challenges-of-nigerias-agriculture-in-2020/
[Accessed 2020].

Eje, U., 2020. The Guardian. [Online]
Available at: https://guardian.ng/opinion/driving-sustainable-growth-in-nigerias-agricultural-sector-2/
[Accessed 20 April 2020].

Okojie, J., 2019. BusinessDay. [Online]
Available at: https://businessday.ng/agriculture/article/nigerias-agriculture-59-years/

The Nation, 2020. The Nation. [Online]
Available at: https://thenationonlineng.net/COVID-19-need-to-avert-the-imminent-food-crisis/
[Accessed April 2020].