Ebola: Dying before our deaths!

The over two hundred girls kidnapped and kept till today by the sect in the Sambisa forest since April 15, 2014 and the recent capture of nearly a hundred persons, allegedly by the same psychotic insurgent cabal, keep us on our toes.What I am getting at is that, in spite of the dreadful menace of […]

The over two hundred girls kidnapped and kept till today by the sect in the Sambisa forest since April 15, 2014 and the recent capture of nearly a hundred persons, allegedly by the same psychotic insurgent cabal, keep us on our toes.
What I am getting at is that, in spite of the dreadful menace of Boko Haram, a new phenomenal scourge has emerged and has seized nations in the West African sub-region by the jugular. It is called Ebola. In terms of capacity to wrought panic and awe—given the announced unparalleled speed in yielding death to its victims—Ebola is fast drowning the infamy of the pandemic HIV/AIDS and Boko Haram in scary proportions. True, we have been assured that this virus, brought to our country by a certain Sawyer, is said not to be air-borne. In other words, it will not be carried by the wind from Lagos to Maiduguri through Ibadan and Jos. But it is said to be the second fastest killer virus of our time. I cannot remember any other issue that has carried such an instant health-caution across the country like this Ebola—whose fear is now the beginning and end of clinical wisdom. It may not have killed 2000 people as yet—in all the countries that it has sojourned, especially Liberia- still the power of its doomsday message is ramifying, electrifying and compelling, thanks to the internet and the social media. The fact that in America and elsewhere, medical scientists are raising hope that Ebola is curable has not calmed national and international tempers.
Indeed, in Nigeria, some patients of the disease have been discharged, I believe cured; some have died, unfortunately, including the heroic medical doctor, Stella Adadevoh, who suffered infection of Ebola through its pioneer- carrier to the nation via her hospital. Adadevoh exemplified heroism in a critical sense of not being a public figure, but who made a mortal sacrifice of preventing Sawyer from spreading Ebola (EVD) more instantly. Adadevoh’s uncommon patriotism and humane attribution may have, wittingly or otherwise, pricked the conscience of the doctors on strike at a time of a feverish national panic from the dreadful ‘fangs’ of Ebola, to suspend their strike! This is not to minimize the veracity, or is it genuineness? of their grievance, but to say that doctors, by the very nature of their calling as life-tenderers (faith people aptly say that it is God that save lives), the sacrificial dare of Adadevoh renders the delayed suspension of strike by the doctors, partly on account of Ebola rather sloathly.
All of these, however, are not the crux of this piece—they are critical sub-plots though. What bothers me is the plethora of remedies offered by all kinds of ‘physicians’—from the beer-parlour type to the gazers in the streets spreading untested and unfounded curative agents and re-agents to Almighty Ebola and disrupting life an cultural and constitutional patterns across the country, with unsettling economic implications and consequences. What do I mean. There is a commendable effort by Government at the centre and at the State levels to curb Ebola and prevent it from laying further claim to Nigerian lives beyond the ravaging impact of death decibels like Boko Haram, other kinds of insurgencies across the country. But I am talking of the informal agents of cure of Ebola, or at least its prevention. The impact is diverse and ominously disruptive. Something must be done, otherwise we should all soon starve from the many don’ts and only a few dos that Ebola is supposed to compel, by ‘wise’ counselors. Bitter kola merchants are among the few lucky beneficiaries of the Ebola cure/prevention prescriptions by unidentified physicians. Everybody is eating Bitter kola with untold voraciousness.
What of salt? I woke up, was woken up more precisely, by a phone from a medical personnel very close to my skin. The question rag through; ‘Have you had your bath?  Of course, the answer was no, as I was still wrapped up and in bed in cold Kuru. ‘Good. ‘ the voice said with compelling affirmativeness. ‘Put a large quantity of salt in the bucket, fill it up with water, and bath with it’. I was intrigued, tis coming from the source which had consistently frowned at the way in which I add salt to my food even before I tasted it. When I reminded my ‘medical tutor’ that I have been asked not to apply too much salt to my food, not to talk of bathing with it, I was promptly reminded that age does not kill instantly, Ebola does; that it was better to postpone death a little than to die now. So, bath every morning with plenty of salt until further notice. Well, did I or did I not listen to my concerned medical friend? Two days or so later, we learnt of the numerous people carrying ailments which forbid the consumption of salt, who have given up the ghost on account of applying salt to halt or chase away Ebola. The salt hawkers are less fortunate than the Bitter Kola traders!
For me personally, it is the spread of ‘calumny’ against Bush Meat that I find very difficult to contain—Bush Meat being my most favourite protein and one which I can hardly part with. This is why I am solidly behind the Hunters Association across the country that are battling this unproven ‘medical conspiracy against the eating and therefore the selling of bush meat! I have various arguments to fight this ‘terrorist attacks’ against Bush Meat. We are told that bats and monkeys are the most likely carriers of the Ebola virus. Now, how is grass-cutter, hare, porcupine, buffalo, and so on, related to bats and monkeys, except for their being in the animal phyla which can be stretched to the animal kingdom that includes all mammals like you and I? I am a sore victim of the campaign against Bush Meat from a culinary angle—not to talk of the numerous hunters and sellers of bush meat that are being deprived of their means of livelihood as a result of the unproven theory of bush meat as a carrier of EVD! I just read the story in the Monday Sun of smugglers of bush meat being intercepted around Jibya, a border town near Niger Republic by the Federal Operation Unit of the Customs Service of Nigeria. They impounded, reportedly, 35, 100 kg of bush meat being smuggled into the country.
I know that all cautions, all cares, must be taken to prevent Ebola from spreading. I am happy that the government is taken pro-active steps to frontally combat Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). I also feel gratified that the United Nations is taking action to support the nations in which EVD is found to have taken root. I am interested in more specific research which will ascertain which food items are Ebola-prone and which are not, before we all kudeku, that, before we all die before death.
The topic for today is not mine. I borrowed it from a write up that was put together by my friend and brother, Assistant Corps Marshal Kayode Olagunju who heads the Planning Research and Statistics Department of the Corps. The focus of his assisgment was to look at the national speed average on specific roads in the country following the increasing cases of speed related crashes across major corridors in the country. I must confess that what really tripped me about the presentation   though I was not there during his presentation was the title: