Like a bad dream, the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is here with us in Nigeria. No need to restate the obvious, that a certain Liberian-American named Patrick Sawyer, against medical advice, stole his way into Nigeria in circumstances that led to the infection of an indeterminable number of Nigerians. Sawyer’s silly action has been so widely condemned by Nigerians, many of whom are so angry with him. Even President Goodluck Jonathan, during the week, went a wee bit less presidential when he publicly referred to the late Sawyer as a “crazy man”.
But it was not only the Liberian-American that got Nigerians angry. Another set of Nigerians were mad at the United States government and its president, Barack Obama, for playing what they considered medical politics with the release of the trial drugs and vaccines to Nigeria and other West African countries in dire need of help. This was after the U.S. had despatched air ambulances to evacuate two of its citizens infected with the virus, while providing medical assistance in Liberia. The U.S. further went ahead to administer the trial drugs on their own citizens.
As far as many Nigerians are concerned, what the U.S. did showed that it does not really care about us. Our expectations are in line with our recent attitudes of expecting the world to come to our aid in our times of trouble. After all, when we face terrorism, we look to America for help, since ‘AmericaWillKnow’. But while we were quick to blame the American government, few of us focused on how Nigerians cared about their compatriots.
Try a search of shops in the cities, you would notice the dearth of many sanitary products such as hand sanitisers. And where you find them, the prices have more than tripled, not because the manufacturers have increased the prices but because those on the distribution chain see this as their season to ‘hammer’. Yet this same Nigerians are quick to see the peck in the American eyes than the log in theirs.
By far, the craziest contribution to the Ebola discourse by Nigeria is the embarrassing incident of salt water bath. It happened in the dead of the night. The power of the mobile phone was set in motion all for the most stupid reason and before daybreak on Friday August 8, many Nigerians admitted they had bathed in salt water, all to prevent contracting the dreaded EVD. And although many, in hindsight, now deny falling for the foolish suggestion, there is indication that many citizens, across class, education, exposure and creed had made a fool of themselves.
There was frenzy in the land all through the night. Wake up. Take a bath of salt water. Not just for you alone, but get your entire household to do so, for the salvation of the salt water is not for you alone but for you and yours. Hey, don’t be selfish now that you have had that bath, so call your families and friends and tell them the good news of salt water bath. And for added advantage, have a full drink of the mixture. And so, one after another, Nigerians got soaked in salt water. And I hear it went beyond Nigeria, same way our comical home movies have captured Africa. That must go into the records as one of the world’s greatest and fastest spreading hoax, even as a few hypertensive persons lay dead from bouts of gulping salt water.
As we all look back at how foolish and gullible Nigerians were, it raises questions of how it is so easy to deceive our citizens. All it takes to swindle many of our people is sweet tongue, which many politicians possess, or a deception laced with a tinge of spirituality. From what I hear, the mere fact that people were asked to take this mystical bath before daybreak may have given some of the mass-bathers reason to believe that a divine solution was indeed a salty bath away. Too bad for them, all that salt was wasted.
I hope those who peddled this balderdash use the same zeal to share the true information about Ebola and learn more from the medical experts.
