It’s pain for some, blessing for others
THE deadly Ebola virus disease has claimed the lives of two Nigerians with 198 others placed under watch by the Federal Ministry of Health to contain the spread. Besides these deaths however, is the enormous toll that the disease is taking on the economy and individuals’ businesses and lifestyles, among others. Indeed, since the EVD made its way into the country, it has been woeful tales from a segment of the populace whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by the fear of the disease.
Certain businesses, retailers and others who make popular local delicacies such as pepper soup and grilled meat or suya are daily counting their losses due to the decrease in sales because of the fear of contracting Ebola. Suya and pepper soup sellers, for instance, have been badly affected by the Ebola scourge, with patronage very low.
Some of the operators who spoke with The Nation lamented that they have been recording low sales since the Ebola virus disease broke out in the country.
A beer parlour operator who gave her name as Patricia Okon said: “This is a bad business period for us. Ebola has seriously set back our business now that we are supposed to be enjoying good patronage because pepper soup sells very well during the rainy season. Before now, I used to make two big pots of pepper soup, but since this problem began, I barely can sell half of one of the pots.
“People are really scared and careful of what they eat these days. We don’t use bush meat to make pepper soup, yet people avoid it like a plague. They would say it is better avoided than take a risk. Many customers who previously would not drink beer except pepper soup was available don’t bother about it again. We have resorted to cooking small quantity to meet the demands of the few people that still crave for it,” she stated.
Mallam Adamu, a suya seller in Lagos, also narrated his plight. Said he: “Wallahi, this thing they call Ebola has adversely affected our sales. Before now, if you came here, you would see large number of people milling around me to buy suya. But since this problem started, they have stopped coming.
“Only a few people come around to buy these days. Initially I thought I was the only one affected by the problem. But when I spoke with some of my colleagues that are into the same business, they also had the same ugly story to tell.”
To him the fear of suya meat was unfounded as neither bush meat nor monkey is used in preparing it.
“I want people to know that suya is not made from bush meat or monkey. It is simply made from cow meat (beef). The government should also help us to make people understand that they cannot have Ebola from eating cow meat. They should help us because Ebola has crippled our business and making life very difficult for us.”
It’s not this group alone who are experiencing slump in sales. Some operators in the hospitality industry and fast food business are also facing difficulties in the wake of the scourge.
Recounting their frustrations since the dreaded sickness broke out, one of them, who simply identified himself as Samson, bemoaned the sharp drop in the number of lodging, saying “This is unbelievable. It is unfathomable that we would be having this kind of low patronage by this time of the year when sales are supposed to be on the high side.
“I don’t know what Ebola has got to do with lodging in hotels. We always wash our bed sheets and maintain good hygiene. Therefore customers don’t have to fear that the sweat of other customers who previously used the room could affect them. Our pool side that used to be a beehive of activities has been deserted since this problem of Ebola started. People no longer come to swim as they used to do in the past. This is causing us serious loss. We hardly make enough sales for the running of the business since the virus broke out in the country. I wonder how salaries of staff would be paid with the way things are going.
“The government has channeled all its efforts and energy to launching campaigns about Ebola to the detriment of the economy. The campaigns have put a lot of fears in the people and it is seriously affecting business activities and human interaction. They should endeavour to come up with campaigns that would highlight things that cannot cause Ebola so that the fears of the people can be mitigated.”
Sporting activities curtailed
Even sporting activities, particularly foreign competitions, are being affected by the scourge. Some sportsmen and women who spoke to The Nation expressed dismay over the development, stating that it could have a negative effect on sports in the country.
A wrestler who identified himself simply as Sunday, said the EVD poses serious threat to his ambition and that of his colleagues.
“The EVD calls for concern, especially for sportsmen, because we often have body contacts with our opponents. The body unfortunately comes with profuse sweat through which one can contract the virus. Some of us in this field have been expressing fears about it because it has two serious implications for us.
“First of all, it has health implications because of the body contacts. The second implication is that it might begin to affect our chances of participating in international championships. From the way things are going now, many countries may not allow us to come to their countries for any competition.
“This would in no small measure prevent us from getting the resources we ought to ordinarily have. Besides, it denies us the exposure we are supposed to get by participating in such international competitions.”
Another athlete named Bose also shared Sunday’s line of thought. She feared that athletes from the country might begin to experience ridiculous treatment because of the development.
“Ebola appears to have come to worsen our international image. Before now, when you travel abroad, you would be subjected to some thorough checks because of the bad image that some unscrupulous Nigerians have given the country.
“Now that Ebola has crept into the country, the ridiculous treatment might worsen, especially for us who are sports people. Even if you do not have Ebola, they might isolate you for checks simply because you are from Nigeria. Something needs to be done,” she stated.
The media officer of the Nigeria Football Federation, Demola Olajire, however allayed any fears about the national teams’ participation in international competitions.
He said: “We do not foresee any problems with the national teams’ participation in international competitions. The virus is being tackled adequately by the Federal Government, so there shouldn’t be any reasons for anybody to be afraid.”
Asked if any country has expressed fears about competing with the country in any competition, he said: “When Lesotho’s Under 20 team wanted to come to the country for a football engagement, they got in touch with us to inquire about the EVD. We simply explained to them the way we have explained to you now that it is not an epidemic. We are going to do the same thing to any other country that expresses fears about coming to the country to engage our national teams.
President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation, Hon. Daniel Igali, also ruled out any fears about his athletes’ participation in international competitions. He however, feared that the presence of Ebola in the country might pose an issue to Nigerian athletes at one time or the other.
He said: “We don’t have any fears about Ebola in our federation. We have been doing everything possible to keep our athletes in good health condition.
“I am writing a letter to the International Wrestling Federation to inform them of all that we are doing to make sure that our wrestlers live healthily ahead of the international competition we have ahead.
“Our athletes are currently camped in a place where they are getting the best education on how to live healthily.
“I foresee a situation where our athletes might begin to have issues because of the EVD. I want international bodies to understand that the problem is not a national thing. It is a localised issue and should not be used to stigmatise the whole country.”
Commercial sex workers also cry
Since the outbreak of the dreaded Ebola disease in Lagos, the fear of Ebola has curtailed the nocturnal activities of the average commercial sex worker in red light districts of Lagos such as Ikeja, Ojuelegba and Victoria Island. However, with growing knowledge about the disease in metropolitan Lagos, more and more sex workers have been relaxing their guard though doing more of prevention or caution against the dreaded disease.
As Eliza, a sex worker in a brothel at Ipodo area of Ikeja, Lagos, stated, “this Ebora or Ebola of a thing that you are talking about is the worst disease. From what we hear, it is worse than gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV/AIDS. So even before it came to Nigeria, we have been very cautious of diseases in general.
“Although it affected our business the first three nights after it was announced the first time that the Liberian man died, business has picked again. Like I told you, we have always been cautious of diseases because it can spread easily.”
Asked in what ways she and her colleagues have been preventing possible contact, she had this to say: “We have been listening to the news. People have been telling us to wash our hands regularly. We have been doing that and also maintaining general cleanliness around us.
Unfortunately, our work involves contact. So personally, it is only God that can totally protect us.”
Asked further if it weas possible for her and her colleagues close shop while the government looks for a cure or solution to the Ebola problem, Eliza suddenly looked alarmed. “How can that be?” She asked.
“Do you want us to starve? We will continue to do our work.”
Ebola or no Ebola, during the week, sex workers poured out in their various locations around the city of Lagos. Indeed, it was business as usual for this set of people. This much was confirmed by Joy who works in another part of the city.
Joy said: “I didn’t come out the day that Ebola was announced. Most of my friends stayed indoors too. But by the next day, we came out for business. We are careful but there is not much we can do. As for me, I look at a person very well. If you appear sick, I run (she and her friends laugh).
Joy, like her friends however admitted that business had been dull in the last two weeks. But what they did not collectively agree on was whether it was due to the outbreak of Ebola disease in Lagos.
She said: “Our business has good and bad seasons. Sometimes things change too. At month end for instance, we have more customers than at other times. But then, one single person can come and change things for days or even more. He can spend more for a girl than she has been making for days. So our business is not predictable. Also, it depends on where you are working.”
We asked Joy what would happen to her business if Ebola continues to spread. Will she still be coming out to work?
Joy responded: “That is what we do not pray for (laughs). The funniest thing is that whether it continues to spread or not, people will still come to meet us. It will then depend on whether we want to work or not. I don’t know. I cannot say for now.”
All around the joints where sex workers abound, activities continued during the week. But more importantly, most of the sex workers were aware of the outbreak of Ebola. They were conscious of the fact that there is an outbreak of the disease in Lagos.
But that did not prevent them from their normal interactions and play with one another, or with their customers.
However, Rose, who says she moves from one end of the city to another on a good night, she asks each of her customers if they he sick or has in anyway contracted the disease. “If they say no, then there is nothing I can do about it, I have to accept them,” added Rose.
Molue riders defiant
The campaign that EVD can be contracted through sweat appears not to be getting the attention of public transporters and passengers, especially in Lagos State.
Checks showed that passengers in the state continued to patronise the services of mass transit buses that are often overcrowded. In molue buses, for instance, passengers who prefer to stand in order to pay cheaper fares are often crammed together in the narrow passage, causing them to sweat profusely.
In spite of the high risk of contracting Ebola in that situation, most of the passengers appear unruffled. The operators, on their part, have continued to smile to the bank in the face of clear and present danger.
A passenger who gave her name as Idaya Semiu dismissed any fear of contracting Ebola through sweat in public buses.
She said: “I have been boarding this bus for more than 10 years without contracting any ailment. The molue is a vehicle for the masses and God who knows that it is poverty that makes us to board it will not allow any affliction to come upon us. In actual fact, boarding molue does not make one to contract Ebola. Did those that have contracted it get it from boarding molue?”
Mr Oladipupo Idowu, another molue passenger saw no problem in boarding the bus. He however opined: “We have to stop shaking people’s hands and endeavour to avoid body contacts in the public.”
Mr. Balogun, a mass transit driver, said fears about Ebola is not out of place. “I’m afraid of Ebola, especially with news that a nurse who was part of the team in the hospital that attended to the first identified case in Nigeria has died. The anxiety is understandable since it takes just one person to infect an entire community.
“We as commercial bus drivers don’t have control over the passengers. They sometimes force themselves to stand in our buses. Never would we encourage any act that affects the well being of the people.”
Mr Eze Obi, a commercial motorcycle rider, said he and his colleagues have no reason to be afraid of Ebola while doing their job. “We don’t have to be afraid. What we need is an improvement of the health care sector as well as emergency responses,” he said.
Different strokes
While for some business outfits like hotels and eateries the Ebola scourge has been more of a curse, it has been a blessing for others. These include manufacturers and retailers of disinfectants, soaps, gloves, nose guards and other protective coverage against germs and diseases.
Efforts of the government as well as the media in educating the public on the need for preventative measures against the disease has resulted in lots of people becoming more health conscious and maintaining good hygiene.
Investigations show that more Nigerians have started washing their hands more regularly than they were doing before.
Madam Bose Iyanda, a major distributor of soaps and detergents at Oke Arin Market in Central Lagos noted that “business in soaps and detergents has always been good for us. But people are buying soaps and detergents very well now. Even this Ebola thing will help us to sell more and more because the business is moving well.”
Asked which of them is selling the most, she simply laughed and replied: “They are all moving well in the market now.”
Our investigation at Agege Market where locally made soaps are popular took us to Omobolanle who trades in them. She confessed that they are now fast selling products. But what has been the use of soaps and sanitizers with regards to Ebola prevention. Mrs Lydia Egbuson, who operates a medicine store in Ogba area of Lagos, said: “Although people have been coming in to ask for medicated soaps more than before, what people are buying the more are sanitizers because it is easier to carry them about. Today alone, I have sold many.”
Mrs. Egbuson’s comment was justified by a sampling our correspondents did. More and more women were found with one form of sanitizer or another in their bags. Most women inside the market at Ogba area had soaps or sanitizers at easy reach. The most popular sanitizer we found the women using is a gel that is said to kill 99.9 per cent of germs.
Mrs. Glory Emeh, a kerosene seller, also said she had witnessed a rise in sales since the outbreak of Ebola.
She said: “I was scared when I heard about the disease. But I don’t believe that hot water and salt can cure it. I made a lot of sales as people were scared of the virus.
They came to buy kerosene to boil water for their baths. I think the cold weather also added to the increased demand for kerosene. It was only at that period of announcement that I made a lot of sales. Since then, the kerosene market has slowed down. It is like people have stopped using hot water.
Erihkan Akpankpan, another kereosene seller, said: “People bought a lot of kerosene on that day. I made a reasonable amount of money. It was like magic to me because it had been a long time we experienced that kind of profit. I was even scared to collect money from my customers the day the announcement was made, thinking whether one of the customers had been infected with the virus.
“I ensured I avoided body contact and washed my hands regularly with the use of sanitizers. I was so scared I had to use hot water and salt to bathe for like three days. It was after the third day that I calmed down.
Oluchi Felix, who sells bitter kola, is also experiencing a boom in sales.
She noted: “Since the day the news broke, so many people have been buying bitter kola from me. I used to sell like a bag and half before, but that very day, I sold more than five bags of bitter kola. But I don’t believe that bitter kola cures Ebola. They are just buying it because they are scared as they buy for themselves and family members. But it is not solving any issue.
“I’m not scared of the virus, so I don’t eat it. It is just a temporary business gain. But if bitter kola is the cure for the deadly virus, it will become scarce and more expensive.”
