Jurnal Sosialisasi Jurnal Hasil Pemikiran, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan Keilmuan Sosiologi Pendidikan Vol 8, Nomor 1, Maret 2021 Peter Akongfeh Agwu, George Ushie Kati | 70 “ABSURDITY” OF ALBERT CAMUS’ THE PLAGUE IN POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN NIGERIA: DOUBTFUL TRUTHS AND TRUTHFUL LIES ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC Peter Akongfeh Agwu 1 , George Ushie Kati 2 1,2 Department of Modern Languages and Translation Studies Faculty of Arts, University Of Calabar, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. agwupeter94@gmail.com 1 , osheakati@yahoo.com 2 ABSTRACT Humanity has been hit in recent times, by unusual mortality provoked by the emergence of COVID- 19. A report of 21 March 2020 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 22 cases of the dreaded virus in the country. Desperate times they say require desperate measures. Facing the pandemic, the leadership of Nigeria has been more political than practical. Citizens resort to divers’ self -medication thus: Bathing with well-boiled Dogo Yaro leaves (Neem leaves); excessive consumption of bitter kola (Garcinia kola) or ginger (Zingiber) and the excessive consumption of alcohol. This study seeks to assess the level of preparedness by the Nigeria National Health System to combat the further spread of COVID-19 as apparently predicted in 1947 by Albert Camus in his work, The Plague. Our work further seeks to ascertain to what extent these self-aids have proven to be the effective panacea. It employs the conspiracy theory to argue that Nigerian leaders give priority to wealth accumulation over public health. Keywords: COVID-19, Absurdity, Politics, Albert Camus, Public health. INTRODUCTION It is impossible to peruse a literary or philosophical work of the 20th Century without discovering the concepts of revolt, atheism, or absurdity. (Agwu 2018, p. 392). These concepts are the basis of writings by philosophers and even playwrights like Jean- Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and many others. The French writer, Albert Camus, drew from his extensive study of the history of plagues in the world (the Black Death of the 14th Century; the Italian Plague of 1630; the London Great Plague of 1665; the East China Plague of the 18th and 19th Centuries) to write a book “La Peste” (translated as “The Plague” in English) in 1947 (Fendt 2020). In The Plague, Camus depicts a scenario of “absurdity” that resulted from the advent of bubonic plague that probably emanated from rats to affect humans in the Algerian Coastal town, Oran (Thoyakkat 2009). From Camus‟s account in the novel, the virus spread with such ferocious speed that it destroyed several lives and forced the world to shut down, especially because of uncertainties and even failure in decision - making by bureaucrats (Abram 1973). Quarantine, contagious atmosphere, high rates of mortality, exhaustive medical doctors, saturated hospitals, religious debates, and interpretations are among the few facts that characterized The Plague. Camus‟ project predates the appearance of a dreaded epidemic and somewhat sinisterly recalls our present-day Coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related Coronavirus-2 that causes the diseases called COVID-19 invaded the Chinese province of Hubei and Wuhan unannounced in December 2019. The Chinese authorities saw the need to officially notify the world that the virus was spreading to their communities. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , “an infected