It’s been given the worst name ever, books have been written in its honor, so have the fear generated by its spread been greater than its potency, but in reality, the advent of Ebola to our shores have been more a blessing than a curse. Pulse.ng’s Joey Akan tells you why.
When Patrick Sawyer, the American who died in Lagos from Ebola Virus, breathed his last, little did we anticipate the symbolism of his passing. The screaming front-page headlines the weeks after, have all been lined with various creative angles of sensation, all invariably designed to cause panic, awaken the fear within us all, and ultimately, boost readership and newspaper sales.
Sounds selfish…right? But not when you consider the good that the scare has done to us all.
Ever since EVD was first identified in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fewer than 1,000 people per year have been infected. The largest outbreak to date is the ongoing 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which is affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. As of July 2014 more than 1320 cases have been identified. Efforts are ongoing to develop a vaccine; however, none yet exists.
Ebola Fever in itself is bad. It has caused deaths, killed scores of people, made kids orphans, wives widows, husbands widowers, altered career-changing travel plans and also has made me unable to turn on the TV. But then we only have to look on the bright side of things to appreciate the true effect Ebola has had on Nigeria.
Let’s cast our interested glance towards home, into our lifestyle. Cleanliness has become a major awareness campaign, designed to protect us from the disease. We Nigerians are a casual flock, where things need be life-threatening to deserve religious attention. Right now, as you are poring through this writ, someone is rigorously washing a pair of hands with some antiseptic lotion or bar. That has to be good, right? Sanitary progress inspired by the fear of Ebola Fever.
The fear of Ebola is the new beginning of personal and collective hygiene.
Also have we become more aware of the need to have our borders closed. The porous nature of our countries border towns have made us seamlessly interact with other nations, with most of it to our disadvantage. Boko Haram is largely fuelled by immigrant mercenaries from neighbouring countries.
Now the threat has taken on a biological form, and moved closer than we can imagine nor control. We are made aware of a heightened sense of security, and our borders have become more regulated. Giving us all, a higher value than we could only have hoped to attain.
When stripped down to the basics, that means good, right?
Finally, we have a new national subject to flog and worry about. Nigeria always has had its fair share of weird national episodes. From the ‘Oga At The Top’ saga, down to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, which also donated the ‘Patience Jonathan emotion’. The new Ebola scare makes us united on this front, with everyone lending their voices and hearts to promote health for health’s sake. We are looking out for ourselves and loving our neighbours, sacrificing all media to voice out the need to stand against the scourge of Ebola.
This makes us united, and it’s a unity borne out of survival, which is far stronger than that of lofty ideals such as patriotism and tribalism.
This means good right?
Out of the dark clouds of a lethal epidemic, we have reason to look on the bright side. Collective hygiene, personal sacrifice, less permeable territorial borders, national unity, and finally, the closeness we now feel to our God.
We are doing just fine, we really are. The fear of Ebola has in many ways been our sincere friend.
