Home News I Take The Battle Against COVID-19 As Total WAR – Senator FLORENCE ITA GIWA Tells City People

I Take The Battle Against COVID-19 As Total WAR – Senator FLORENCE ITA GIWA Tells City People

by Seye Kehinde
Florence Ita-Giwa,

Ageless Senator Florence Ita Giwa popularly known as Mama Bakassi is one lady blessed with beauty, brains, and a heart of gold. A one time senator representing the Cross-River State South senatorial district, she held office from May 1999 to May 2003. She also served under President Olusegun Obasanjo as special adviser on National Assembly matters. After politics, she delved into restaurant business despite not being into active service anymore, she still renders services to her community in Cross River, she has positively touched lots of lives and remains one philanthropist many love and admire a lot. In this exclusive interview with City People Magazine’s Publisher, Dr. SEYE KEHINDE, she talked about how she has been able to cope with the pandemic. What people especially the elderly ones need to know about the pandemic.

How has it been coping with the pandemic?

It was a bit difficult when I was in Lagos, it is not malaria that one will just treat and forget about it and you will be fine. The whole world didn’t understand the horrible thing, everybody was confused. When I was in Lagos, it was so bad I couldn’t even go close to the lift for weeks. I remained locked in my apartment since I stay in a penthouse. Fine I know I don’t have any underlining ailment, but like they say elderly people should take precautions.

So, I had to be extra careful also at some point, I got worried about my people in Calabar and I also realized I would have been better off in Calabar where I will be alone in my compound, unlike the penthouse where I stay in Lagos. My 11 children were all locked in Calabar, they couldn’t take the last flight. I couldn’t as well, so I started to panic, but luckily for me, I was able to take myself out of Lagos after 5 weeks, so I have been in Calabar since then.

Cross River State has been very lucky. The governor of the state has been proactive. Before I got here, I watched him mount walls around the borders, arresting people not wearing face masks. If you have the virus, it’s not something you can hide because the Calabar community is small so, I don’t know of anyone who has died from the virus, but back then in Lagos, I have a couple of friends who got the virus, though some were lucky to escape.

Honestly, the world won’t be the same again. If you watch CNN news lately, you will see the normally busy streets abroad all empty. Now go to Paris, France,  London all the busy places are empty. Everybody is hiding and up till date, nobody has addressed the psychological and mental impact of the pandemic on people.

The feeling of loneliness and fear is also another factor and from what I have heard, the virus is not a good way to die, so everybody is scared. I am here in Calabar, being seriously mindful of my age, but I have also tried to reach out to my people here, giving palliatives. I also belong to another platform, The African preventing poverty group, we have been doing a lot on creating awareness, assuring people that the governor means well by telling people to wear masks because many regard it as punishment. I have also done an awareness campaign on Ait. I believe God has given me another opportunity to serve my people, it is really much better in Calabar than any other city in Nigeria it’s not because I am from there.

What are the lessons we can learn from the experience?

The lesson is much, I would not want to say the pandemic is a good thing, but it has made everyone realise how life is. Nothing is permanent in life. I have also simplified life it has made us realize the importance of being alive in good health. It has given us the opportunity to know what is important to us. Every weekend party stuff where we the so-called celebrities want to look good and all that is no more there. Life, indeed, is now simplified.

I started enjoying things I never had time for before like fresh maize and pea (laughs)! It’s like over 20 years I enjoyed something like that. You are enjoying family life and bonding with children, it has enabled me to know my house better. I have had this beautiful house for over 5 years now, but I have never spent so much time staying in the house. I am always breezing in and out I have not even entered some rooms, but now I have been going from one place to another

It has also united a lot of people. The one I find very emotional is getting calls from people you have not seen or talk with in the last ten to fifteen years, so people are reaching out to one another. The most important thing is the awareness the virus is invisible. Nobody can come out and say he or she understands the virus completely. So, we are fighting a battle that we don’t know, I always advise people that as you get older, your immune system drops, so it’s like a war. You need to build certain things to build up your immune system. First, you need to keep your inner body warm.

Second, you need to compulsorily follow the protocol which is washing your hands, using sanitizer and when used, stay away from open flames.

Thirdly, stay at home as much as you can. I now find it very enjoyable after my 14 days of self-isolation in Calabar I decided to start checking on my people. Honestly, it was like my privacy has been invaded. So, learn to stay in a clean environment and if you must step outwear your mask and take the necessary precautions. This is my first time of granting interviews without my masks on the mouth. It is the most deadly means of transmitting the disease if this interview was not online, I won’t try it. I have been going from one village to another to create awareness. Do your best and leave the rest to God.

The pandemic has also made us realise the need and importance of technology. You are in Lagos, am in Calabar we can see each other and we have this interview and people can hear us. Sometimes ago, I also had a zoom meeting with people from different parts of the world and it was done regularly then. We have the national disaster relief fund meeting initiated by Alhaji Dangote. That was the first meeting I had on zoom and I was really surprised and what that means is that in future we don’t have to travel all the way abroad to have meetings. It has also made people work from homes and this will reduce the capital structure of every organisation and you don’t have to travel and spend so much, that is the advantage.

What is your advice to the elite in terms of how to cope with the pandemic?

My advice to everybody is that it is important to take care of the vulnerable. Palliative intervention is very important. Whatever you feel you can afford to share kindly do. This is the time for those of us at the top to show compassion to the less privileged. The sacrifice has to be made now. This is the time people need to care and show love if God has blessed you then help people around you. The torture is enough to kill anybody not to talk of hunger. I was talking to someone a few days ago and I said if you know you are bold enough take your expensive car and drive on the streets of Lagos if Lagos boys won’t mob you. There is hunger everywhere. People should learn that they can enjoy their lives in the comfort of their homes with members of their immediate family.

The time for show-off is gone, we are in the time for reality and for those whom God has blessed, we should learn to share with others. Nobody is going to be here forever and that explains what I have been doing since I came to Calabar, giving palliatives, creating awareness in my community. I don’t know if I would have done that in Lagos owing to fear and Lagos is very hot, but Calabar is cool. That era of party here and there is gone. All we are concerned about now is to stay alive in good health

What is the new normal for you ma?

Like I earlier said, people need to adjust to the new lifestyle, which is staying at home and enjoying the new basics of life, enjoying the sunshine in the morning, enjoy nature, enjoy your garden, take pictures if you desire to. This period has given us the opportunity to bond with the family, parents. It is an opportunity to bond with their children.

I pray this period also solidifies the young ones relationship than breaking it. I call it the difficult time, it reminds me of when Nigeria was at war.

I was much younger and in Biafra for 3 years. It was similar to what is happening now. People couldn’t go to school, the anxiety we are experiencing now is more difficult than what we experienced during the war. This one, we don’t know how and when people contact the virus unlike then. The sound of the gun was, at least, a signal that there is a war somewhere. A friend who contacted the virus said she went to a salon. Someone coughed and she didn’t attach importance to it and that was how she contracted it. It is, indeed, a difficult time for the whole world. The economy is bad, the oil prices have gone down completely which is the only source of Nigeria’s income and I am wondering how Nigeria will cope in the next 3 years. We are really going through tough times and this is not going away anytime soon. America will be locking down again. So, Nigeria should be careful about opening up, because, it could get worse. We don’t have the capacity to deal with it

How have you been coping?

I have come to terms with it, I have young children. My 2 last children are 5 years old, you know my story and my children, so when you have such a large family you need to stay alive in good health to take care of them. Since I came out of the government, I have still been working it’s not been easy for me, but I have worked my mind towards being positive about everything in life. I am highly spiritual, always happy and doing everything possible to stay healthy, drinking all the concoction and minding my organs. I am always thinking of things to engage in when I go out and put smiles on the faces of my people. It makes me happy. You must always look for something you enjoy doing and remain happy to take your mind away from that horror movie. Engage yourself positively.

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