Yomi Akinfesoye is the Author of the book “Reckless Audacity”. A book that sheds light on the recklessness of humans in the face of crisis, displayed during the covid-19 outbreak; more so the ineptitude of leaders which exacerbated the CoViD-19 pandemic. Akinfesoye is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife Nigeria, and very passionate about writing, Currently, he has written three engineering technical publications, and working on the fourth. In this interview, the Process Safety Engineer revealed Nigeria might be heading for another lockdown if care is not taken. Excerpt:

Why did you decide to write this Book?

Good question. It might surprise you to know that I was inspired to write this book by my six-year-old daughter. I mean the way she adhered to the precautionary measures put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 was nothing short of impressive. She practically became an advocate of covid-19 prevention protocols based on the information she picked from the news media. This actually led me to do a comparison between my 6-year-old daughter’s attitude and response to coronavirus outbreak and the response and attitude of many supposed adults, heads of nations, and heads of religious organizations across the world, who without sufficient knowledge of the situation on hand downplayed the calamitous potential of the novel virus. Some of the words that jumped at me from this comparison were carefulness, recklessness, and boldness. My daughter had become very careful and deliberate with her actions, especially as it involved her interactions with others, deciding on her own that she was no longer going to hug anyone she wasn’t sure of or attend birthday parties because of covid-19. Meanwhile, I saw adults, literates, renowned public figures, heads of religious organizations, and heads of nations who without constraint, but with blatant audacity exhibited their ignorance and deranged recklessness that put them and others at preventable risks. Then came the two words that struck me, “Reckless Audacity”. The initial plan was to write an article for publication in the newspaper to educate people, but it turned out to become a book for two reasons: One, a lot of information that might not fit into an article came at me, and secondly, a book I believe would meet one of my goals of having something documented for posterity’s sake.

Can you tell us about the book and what you intend to achieve?

Beyond the deadly nature of CoVid-19 were people’s reckless behaviours before and during the virus outbreak. Let me state here that I am neither a Virologist nor Epidemiologist, so the book was not written to examine the viral biochemistry or scientific technicalities and jargons associated with the virus; rather, to bring to light and buttress reasonably the recklessness of humans as a major causal agent for the tragic situation.

“Reckless Audacity” is a book that chronicles the recklessness of humans and lack of competency and ignorance on the part of leaders in the society that provided a fertile ground for the spread of covid-19. The book talks about countries like New Zealand headed by a thirty-nine-year-old Prime Minister who listened to scientists from onset unlike his counterparts in countries like the USA, Brazil, etc. that disregarded scientific advice and consequently suffered a high rate of casualty. The book is divided into four parts: The first part containing five chapters gives a historical account of previous pandemics such as the Spanish flu, the bubonic plague, or black death and of course a background on the novel coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. The second part also of five chapters x-rays the role of leaders, religion, and the media during the pandemic. The third part was more on how Africa and especially Nigeria responded to the CoViD-19 pandemic; the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the final parts re-evaluate the consequences of wrong decisions vis-à-vis the pandemic and lessons to prevent a future occurrence. The book ‘Reckless Audacity’ was written based on the information and put together in a format that tells the story of how it all began as a virus outbreak and then into an epidemic, and subsequently, a pandemic that ravaged the world forcing a complete shut down on the universe for what some has described as “World Turnaround Maintenance”, spurring from not taking appropriate actions before and during the virus outbreak. This book “Reckless Audacity” chronicles the events as they unfolded, the recklessness, misconception, audacious display of ignorance, the devastating consequences, and how to prevent the next pandemic. The objective of writing this book is to serve as a means to educate the people and document what was witnessed during the pandemic for current and future generations to learn from. It is my dream to get the book into the hands of as many readers as possible so that the lessons can travel wide.

How relevant is this book now considering the apathy average Nigerians have over Covid-19 and the fact that Africa recorded the lowest number of deaths?

Firstly, when we talk about deaths resulting from any calamity or a natural disaster such as the covid-19 pandemic, the death of just one individual as a result of such calamity is supposed to trigger an extensive concern and drive the need to prevent it from expanding in scale. Even though Africa has recorded a low number of fatalities contrary to predictions based on what happened in Europe, Asia and America at the early stages of the virus outbreak, those deaths no matter how low the numbers could have been prevented. As you know in Africa, you have 10 to 20 people who depend on an individual especially for economic reasons, so when such a man dies, you have a ripple effect down the line. Now to the question, this book remains very relevant as a source of information to further educate the people. The book is an additional gift to the intellectual community to help us demystify our superstitious beliefs which have misled us in the wrong direction.

Even if the death toll in Africa is low, that does not remove the fact that people were reckless, and prominent leaders who were not scientists misinformed the people and which made them downplay the virulence of the virus. We must not also forget the fact that Africa and Nigeria inclusive cannot boast of reliable and robust statistics. There were so many deaths not recorded or accounted for during the pandemic as well as the thousands if not millions who contracted the virus but refused to go for testing for further confirmation. As you know, to an average Nigerian, once we feel sick or weak, we jump to conclusion that we are suffering from malaria and then go ahead to administer malaria drugs. The death of prominent people like the Chief of Staff to the Nigerian President, Mallam Abba Kyari from CoVid-19 complications should have been worrisome enough to trigger the need to want to prevent a reoccurrence, and that is why a book like this remains very relevant. I will want to challenge African and Nigerian scientists to commence studies to understand why the coronavirus fatality toll in the region turned out low compared to predictions by world experts. Could it be something in people’s DNA or in our environment? Let us put aside all religious and unscientific assumptions and get the true facts.

From your experience is there any possibilities that Nigeria might witness a second wave or another lockdown?

From what we are seeing happening in Brazil and India, I will say anything is possible especially if we continue to be reckless and continue to feign ignorance about science and measures put in place to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. It will only take one individual to travel from those countries experiencing the outbreak of the new virus variant, into Nigeria and then spread the virus once again. The way people react to Covid-19 pandemic-related issues nowadays is as if the virus outbreak happened like a hundred years ago. We’ve forgotten so fast that the virus is still ravaging some countries of the world and with one international flight we might be back to another lockdown.

Are you surprised by the attitude and carelessness displayed by some religious and political leaders in the country concerning the covid 19?

I will answer No and Yes.

No in the sense that, humans are naturally reckless, and most times positions do not make any difference. We live in a world where reckless behaviours and vague audacity are always at play in each passing second. Many religious leaders and politicians are selfish and are always looking out for themselves before their followers. Unfortunately, these ignorant followers have decided to outsource their thinking capabilities to this set of leaders to an extent that they no longer challenge the status quo. These selfish religious leaders and politicians are fully aware of this and capitalize on this weakness to actualize their selfish goals. According to the late MLK Jr “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” What we witnessed during the pandemic was a universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions by the people who can no longer think, and those answers and the half-baked solutions came from these dubious religious leaders and politicians.

However, the surprising part was the reaction of the people after witnessing the dreadful consequence of the virus. Even with the deaths of prominent people and confirmation of the virulence of the virus by renowned scientists and public figures, people remained reckless and lackadaisical. One would have thought that with the disturbing number of fatalities attributed to the virus, video clips of dying patients struggling with deaths spread across the internet and shown on television, people would have exercised caution and for once obey science; but surprisingly the carelessness displayed continued to grow amidst all of these. That was shocking to me, and again, the information available to these adults, leaders was the same information that was available to my six-year-old who practically became an advocate of CoViD-19 preventive measures. That was the surprising part to me. Africans and particularly Nigerians must take steps to prevent reoccurrence and future cases, otherwise, we might sooner than later go into another lockdown situation. www.yomiakinfesoye.com

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