“Oga! Oga! go back, I say go back,
no go dat side o. One man don catch
the Ebola disease and e wan die;
you better run for your life!”
I had arrived Obalende, a popular bus station in
central Lagos having alighted from an in-bound BRT
bus from the peninsular Ajah area of the city a
moment earlier and walked straight into the Ebola
virus disease scare that had thrown the bus station
into an uproar. Not that Obalende, the once notorious
city centre synonymous with Nigeria’s socio-political
history had ever possessed the serene ambience of
its neighbouring colonial GRA of Ikoyi but even on its
saner days, the oldest bus station in Lagos was
always in a state of bedlam. But on the day I passed
through its maze of human and vehicular
commotion, Obalende seemed to have played host to
a thousand demons.
People ran in different directions. One woman almost
pushed me in the path of an oncoming bus driven
wildly by a fleeing commercial bus driver. A cart
pusher, eager to get away from the clutches of the
deadly Ebola ran his omolanke (cart) straight into a
crowd of fleeing pedestrians. Panicky street vendors,
oblivious of the cause of the chaos but on hearing the
word “Ebola” abandoned their wares and fled. The
disheveled-looking man who had previously warned
me not to get close ran barefooted, his shoes in his
hand. He wheezed past me as if he had seen a ghost.
Amidst the pandemonium around me, I stood for a
moment to observe the scenario. Why run when I
could not see my pursuer? Then, I looked up to see
the source of the frenzy. Just ahead of me and in
front of a decrepit gas station, a man was on the
ground, face up and spread-eagled. I walked the
distance to the scene. The man on the ground was
obviously in distress. But in Lagos, the scene was
familiar. The man on the ground could be a homeless
victim of hunger or a serial alcoholic inebriated on
the local brew, paraga capable of knocking its
consumers into a state of temporary coma. But no
one was willing to go any closer. The fear of Ebola has
become the beginning of wisdom. However, this
Nigerian needed help. I thought there was nothing to
fear since Ebola can only be transmitted through
exchange of fluids and close body contact. I stood
close enough to maintain a safe distance. Now, some
of those who had fled earlier had also gathered at a
distance to watch the scene unfold.
I joined the other “Good Samaritans” who were
courageous enough to offer some help to the man
“Ebola victim”. One of those gathered contacted the
Lagos State mobile ambulance nearby. As we
discussed other options, the man suddenly moved.
He opened his eyes and sat up. He looked dazed.
Then, he called for water. A vendor, with a tray of the
ubiquitous pure sachet water balanced on her head
threw some sachets at him. He guzzled the water
and poured the rest on his head. We were visibly
relieved when he stood up and sat on a rickety bench
nearby. Then, he beckoned on the crowd to come
closer. Still, no one was willing to take the risk. Then,
the man reached in his bag to produce a hospital
card and some drugs. On a closer look, the drugs
seemed for the treatment of hypertensive patients. It
was then that I concluded he might have temporarily
passed out.
We contacted his family through the phone number
he provided. His house was within the vicinity. Not
long after, a middle aged woman who identified
herself as his wife arrived with some relatives.
Fortuitously, the LAGBUS ambulance also arrived at
the same time. The man was wheeled into the
ambulance and driven off. The incident was scary.
Moments later, Obalende which had temporarily
come to a standstill soon resumed its chaotic
rhythm. As I walked away from the scene, I thought
how lucky the man was because he could have been
left for dead for the fear of Ebola. But do you blame
them? Since the virus found its way into Lagos by a
“crazy” Liberian traveller named Patrick Sawyer, who
also became the first Nigerian victim of the disease,
its potency to spread and kill its victims had created
mass hysteria.
The fear of the Ebola Virus Disease in Africa’s most
populous nation has made the terror campaign of
Boko Haram seem like a child’s play. The EVD which
has killed about 1000 West Africans and still
counting since February may be Nigeria’s new killer.
In a country where death stalks the citizens like a
shadow, the fear is real. For one, the level of poverty
has worsened. According to the World Bank, more
than 100 million of Nigeria’s 170 million population
live in poverty. More of that figure cannot access nor
afford quality health care. Our hospitals are worse
than consulting clinics. The emergence of the EVD
had also occurred at a time when resident doctors
are on a nationwide strike. They had been protesting
poor working conditions in a country where the
political elite go abroad to treat ailment s minor as
headache.
The poor living condition of the masses especially in
Lagos, where three quarters of its estimated 18
million population live in crowded slums, will also aid
the spread of the virus. Despite official information as
to how observing simple hygiene can prevent
transmission, conspiracy theories about Ebola have
gripped the largely illiterate population. Some
Nigerians have bought into the notion that Ebola is a
ploy by the West to wipe off Africans. This theory was
fuelled by the alleged “refusal” of the Obama
administration to, until Tuesday, release to the
affected West African countries the experimental
serum ZMapp. Nothing can be more ridiculous. Some
religious entrepreneurs have also claimed Ebola is
“God’s way of punishing Africans for their ‘sins’”.
This may eventually pave the way for commercial
miracle healing.
As the Nigerian government battles to contain the
spread of a disease that will make the AIDS and
malaria green with envy, Nigerians have begun to
adopt desperate and bizarre remedies to prevent
infection. One of such is the “hot salty water
solution”. A suggestion, that since has been known
to be a joke, that by bathing with salt mixed with
water and drinking the same can prevent
transmission went viral over the weekend. That has
proved fatal already. According to a report in a
national newspaper, about 20 Nigerians have
allegedly died due to excessive salt intake. Nigerians
obviously do not want this Ebola. They have enough
national tragedies to grapple with. The kidnapped
Chibok girls have still not been rescued over 100
days after. We cannot afford to be afflicted by
another potential national calamity.
Let’s hope Ebola does not spread to the level of an
epidemic. No thanks to Sawyer whom President
Goodluck Jonathan angrily, and rightly too, referred
to as a “mad man” for adding to the list of his
problems.
By Bayo Olupohunda

A lot of people may die needlessly during this ebola period. Instead of people giving first aid,they will be running away.

you mean boko haram or ebola viruse?

Wetin concern me