I was unable to write this column last week owing to an attack of conjunctivitis, which left my eyes swollen, reddened and oozing thick, mucoid discharge. It also gave me fever, and I was unable to read. It was so bad that I couldn’t even read text messages on my phones. People who saw me said I had “apollo”, that being the name by which conjunctivitis is recognised here.

It wasn’t my first time though. I first had an attack of this (benign?) illness as a primary school pupil in 1970. That was a year after the American mission to the moon, in which three US astronauts, Mike Collins, Neil Armstrong, and Edwin Aldrin made a mission to the moon and back. According to Wikipedia, adenoviruses are the most common cause of viral conjunctivitis (adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis). Herpetic keratoconjunctivitis, caused by herpes simplex viruses, can be serious and requires speacialist treatment.

Acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis is a highly contagious disease caused by one of two enteroviruses. The online resource portal added that these were first identified in an outbreak in Ghana in 1969, the year of the moon landing by American astronauts, and have spread worldwide since then, causing several epidemics. What still baffles me till now is how conjunctivitis became known as apollo in our climes. What causative relationship between the Apollo mission to the moon and the infectious disease caused that ascription on the nominal scale? I am receptive to answers.

One thing is clear, apollo, or conjunctivitis severely limits the ability of the eyes to function. What the eyes see is transmitted to the brain for interpretation, after which the human organism responds as he/she deems fit. Many humans will react by taking to their heels at the sight of a snake, or some other dangerous animal. The Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria even have a proverb to buttress this: “Agba to r’ejo ti ko sa, ara iku l’o nyaa.” Freely translated, this means a man that tarries at the sight of a snake is courting death.

Recent experience has also shown that conjunctivitis can infect governments and politicians, severely impairing ability to see the impact of ill-thought out policies on the citizenry. I make this observation in light of on-going experience with the exchange rate of the Naira to other global currencies, especially the US Dollar. If the current trajectory is anything to go by, the Naira will lie supine at the feet of other currencies in a few weeks time.

The immediate fallout of that is that the cost of petrol at the pumps will increase, and the prices of other goods and services will equally take their cue and shoot higher as well. In short, life will continue to get harder for the average Nigerian, all because of “political apollo”, which disabled the managers of our affairs, starting from Mr. President, to see the deleterious effects of subsidy removal and exchange rates windows collapse on our lives in the immediate, medium, and long term.

The palliatives announced last week by the Federal Government indicates visual impairment occasioned by “political apollo” more than anything else. We are told that 200,000 tonnes of grains will be released for sale to the public. Some states have started announcing receipt of the grains. Last Wednesday, the Akwa Ibom State Government announced receipt of 3,000 bags of rice from the FG as part of the palliatives.

Earlier, Kwara State government announced taking delivery of  1,200 bags of rice from the Federal Government, with Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq directing immediate distribution of the same to the less privileged through local government structures in the state. If you can’t see, you’re blind. Period. Just how many people will 3,000 bags in Akwa Ibom and 1,200 bags in Kwara feed, for how long? The governor of Kwara directed distribution to the less-privileged in his state. Using what criteria? How are the less-privileged identified? Serious case of apollo here!

In addition, the Federal Government also announced that it will procure 3,000 buses that will run on compressed natural gas, CNG. How will these buses mitigate the effects of subsidy removal? How will they help pay school fees already jerked up by schools at various levels? How will the buses impact the price of bread, garri, rice, eggs, beans, yams, and other foodstuffs in 36 states plus the FCT and 774 LGAs? And the 100,000 MSMEs and 1,300 nano-businesses that will be empowered. Have they been identified? Is there a register of these businesses? Are we not just moving round in circles like a barber’s chair simply because we have to respond to a problem that did not happen on us but which we foisted on ourselves?

The apollo got even worse with the coup in neighbouring Niger Republic. One of our responses so far is to switch off power supply to that country. That is a very bad case of visual impairment occasioned by “political apollo.” Construction of the Kainji Dam in Nigeria was made possible after negotiations with Niger Republic to supply power so that the country will also not dam the Niger River.

The Federal Government should do well to visit the archives for details of negotiations between General Yakubu Gowon and Nigerien leader at the time, Hamani Diori. The first rule in international relations applies here: Pacta sunt servanda — Pacts and agreements freely entered into are binding. Let the FG cure itself of this monstrous apollo and restore power supply to Niger Republic immediately. As for us here, we are stuck with people who have “apollo” showing us where to step!