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.
See more at: http://www.thenicheng.com/ebola-and-the-fool-in-us/#sthash.ko48PCaO.tAW4q2jR.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment