Impacts And Opportunities From COVID-19

It all came as an expected shock than sheer surprise when the Federal Government of Nigeria declared the compulsory national lockdown of all organizations and institutions in March 2020, following the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic across the world.

Unbidden, people started getting used to the new normal way of life that the pandemic brought upon them, and even so, they started discovering how to do things differently and still achieve the same or better results as it were. Again, relationships started getting better and neighbours seemingly began to show compassion for one another than ever before. With the evolution of the new normal, came a series of impacts - positive and negative - that materialized in businesses, education, countries' economy, and pretty much the social lives every individual.

A significant impact of the Corona Virus pandemic can be assessed from the series of ripple effects it has had on businesses (public and private) and national economy. As the virus grew wings and spread like wild fire across the country, it brought with it a sudden yet urgent response from everyone who obviously would rather go ass broke than be infected with a deadly and almost incurable virus like SARS-Co-V. No one saw the aftermath of the lockdown coming. It raged hard to such extent that Nigerians were squeezed into an appalling situation where they had to choose between dying from "Hunger Virus" or the more dreadful Corona virus. Contemporaneously, many businesses have been closed down outright, and many more are yet to recover from the loss that the pandemic has imposed on them. Meanwhile, the pandemic has left some organizations with no choice than to lay off some of their staff thereby making people lose their jobs, it has heedlessly infected a large number of people across board and made some of us lost our loved ones, again there is the restriction of movement and travels which has unfortunately made some people demotivated to continue living.

However, I believe that the great surge of negative impacts that the pandemic has dealt us with comes also with a few opportunities that the current situation may have unintentionally created for us. First and most important factor is 'time'. Without a doubt, we have been able to spend more time with our families and loved ones during the lockdown than has been in times past. Again, I think the need for some people to take a break from many life's overwhelming urgencies was met during the lockdown whereby they were able to find their feet again, be more aware of their immediate environment, interact with people (though virtually due to the lockdown), and share love and compassion to others.

Furthermore, our world has been reshaped by Covid-19 and this has made us to realize that we can do even more with digital technology, financial technology, and new energies now more than ever. Now companies are embedding technology in their processes, and individuals are taking a new approach to their jobs thereby cultivating a leadership mentality and becoming indispensable to their employers. Businesses too are now having strategic planning on risk management to simulate how other unforeseen circumstances - just like Covid-19 pandemic - could disrupt their businesses, as this would help them use those insights to design their operations.

To fully harness these seemingly inconspicuous opportunities that are lurking behind the more pronounced effects of the pandemic, we must always ask ourselves this: "How will we do what we currently do in a different world?"

Only then would we be able to intentionally make white pap out of a black kettle.

This blog has been submitted to the 2020 ISWA YPG Blog-writing Competition. The ISWA Young Professionals Group is dedicated to (and coordinated by) young professionals to encourage them to be proactive and support them in building their careers in the waste industry. #ISWAYPGblog2020