African Law, Commerce & Economic Development: Some Lessons African Nations Can Learn from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Devastating! An apt single-word description for the COVID-19 pandemic. It was nothing short. Explosive in its spread, its modus operandi was vicious and fiendish, with deteriorating progression from fever and respiratory nodi to organ failure and eventual death. Unrepentantly swift, it was initially reported to the World Health Organization (“WHO”) in December 2019, only to be declared a global health emergency a month later. By March 2020, it was designated a global pandemic; the first since 2009’s H1N1 influenza, which inarguably pales in comparison. COVID not only oversaw an exodus to the afterlife, it also torpefied economies worldwide; and as Africa now makes gradatory headway towards recovery, she cannot be incautious of the reality that the pandemic and attendant lockdown bore some critical lessons, particularly relevant to the continent. This paper sheds light on a few of these salient lessons.

Keywords: Africa. Law, Economy, Commerce, Development