Using a short film, BBC Africa’s, Joshua Akinyemi, has embarked on a journey to summarize the occurrences of 2020. Joshua shows how the events have impacted individuals across the world in the series of films titled “2020 and me.”
In his recent episode, Joshua features a Nigerian student, Victoria Okeke (nicknamed Kiki), who highlights the impacts of 2020 events on typical Nigerians, or rather the Africans.
Kiki describes 2020 as a challenging and depressing year. Many would conquer with her on this. She further says how depressing social media is, from the captions to the pictures and videos.
Corona Virus Pandemic
Without a doubt, the pandemic has had an adverse ripple effect across the world. No one foresaw a virus that would wreak so much havoc globally.
Kiki says the pandemic has derailed visions and plans that many had for this year. Countries put in place lockdowns to curb the menace, making many individuals grounded. At some point in the year, the best anyone could do was stay idle in the house the whole day.
Also, several companies and shut down their operations, resulting in many losing their jobs. Similarly, Kiki’s parent’s experienced reduced profits in their business, making them cut on expense. The economic state of most African countries has worsened during this period.
Moreover, the pandemic caused complete disruption of the academic calendars. Most African countries had to suspend face-to-face learning to curtail the virus from spreading indefinitely. All Nigerian Tertiary Institutions were closed, affecting university students such as Kiki. A similar scenario was experienced in other African countries.
Lastly, the pandemic affected personal relationships. Victoria says that you could no longer make contact with loved ones. Social distance and lockdowns made it difficult for people to interact normally. In unfortunate cases, many have had to deal with the loss of loved ones who have succumbed to the virus.
Protests and Movements
2020 has had its fair dose of demonstrations and movements to fight various forms of injustices and various abuse of power.
In Kiki’s case, EndSARS is a perfect example. She describes EndSARS as a movement that started with peaceful protests but suddenly escalated to a bloody affair. Kiki likens the EndSARS movement to the BlackLivesMatter movement. She describes the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) as inhuman, unjust, disrespectful, and extortionists.
Similar movements have been experienced across Africa, such as South Africa’s protest against racism; and Uganda’s protests demanding the release of presidential candidate Bobi Wine.
Notably, these protests have led to killings by the police, for example, in Nigeria’s and Uganda’s cases.
Industrial Strikes
Victoria says that the lecturer’s strike in Nigeria has gone on for more than eight months. Consequently, this has lengthened her five-year course. A similar fate has been experienced by most students globally.
Industrial strikes have also been a common occurrence in Africa Countries in 2020. Some common culprits are Kenya and South Africa. In the two countries, most labor unions have engaged in constant demonstrations and downing of tools.
Hope for 2021
Kiki thanks God that the year is finally ending. She is hopeful that having completed this year successfully spells out brighter days ahead for her. Victoria believes that this year’s events will help her face any difficult time she might face in the future.
To sum it up, Kiki hopes that 2021 will be a good year that will bring laughter to peoples’ faces and restore all the things lost in 2020.
MORE:
- Film: Africans in Europe Represented in BIFA
- The Night of Kings Appears First at The Venice Film Event
