Opinion
Nigeria My Dear Country!!
By DR Jalarth Uche Opara
Yesterday after our prayer meeting I put forward my hands to have a warm handshake with someone. Immediately he withdrew and cautioned me because of the recent scare of Ebola virus.
Nigeria seems a joke . A tale told beneath the glittering light of the moon, in the chilly embrace of Harmattan, when the cold cuts to the bone and people have to cluster around a bonfire for warmth.
Ten billion naira is not just a lump sum. It is a river of public money which may be flowing into an ocean of facades, fears, and phantom scares surrounding Ebola incidents.
The strategy seems familiar. There will always be that one person who arrives through the airport, tests positive, gets hospitalised and quarantined, and then the tracing of contacts begins like a manhunt.
Why is it always the same tale, the same strategy, the same pattern of public anxiety? One cannot help wondering whether there is more to these recurring narratives than meets the eye. At times, the entire process feels stage-managed, even when the danger itself may be real.
Before now, we have been living our lives, going about our daily activities, with little thought of the possibility that Ebola could be around us. Then the alarm sounds, and suddenly, every handshake, every human interaction, and every shared space becomes a potential source of danger. The endless rules, the dos and don’ts, and the avalanche of warnings may leave many psychologically overwhelmed, almost feeling as though they have contracted the disease simply because they have been frightened into imagining its presence.
COVID-19 came with its waves, its restrictions, its economic disruptions, and what many perceived as opportunities for financial empowerment. We survived it.
When Ebola first arrived in Nigeria years ago, before this second missionary journey of fear, all manner of preventive measures were introduced. Salt suddenly became expensive . Bush meat became a source of public anxiety. Yet, many people continued to eat it whenever the opportunity arose.
Now, history appears to be repeating itself. The headlines change, the disease changes public fraternity, the figures may change, but public suspicion remains: how much of the response is genuinely about protecting lives, and how much of it is about the money, the politics, and the machinery that thrives whenever fear takes centre stage?
Of course, an infectious disease is no joke. Public health warnings deserve attention, and genuine outbreaks must never be dismissed. But neither should public money, public trust, and public psychology be treated carelessly. Those entrusted with protecting lives must also be accountable for the resources committed to that responsibility.
Nigeria has a way of turning almost everything into a spectacle. Even fear can become a national drama, with the ordinary citizen left to distinguish between legitimate caution and manufactured panic.
This too shall pass, as others have passed. The question is: when it does, will we have learnt anything, or will we simply wait for the next scare, the next announcement, the next billions, and the next chapter in this familiar Nigerian tale?
Ebola! Nigeria isn’t your thriving place. You are dead on arrival, if indeed you arrived truly. Nigerians will survive you without any causality.
What happens if the Minister of health becomes the coordinator of this presidential task force? Just asking for effective and efficient coordination, since it is health matter.
Jarlath Uche Opara
jarlathuche@gmail.com