From Lagos to Calabar, Akure to Kano and Kaura Namoda to Enugu, Nigerians are gripped in the fear of the deadly Ebola virus after the news filtered out that it had claimed its first Nigerian victim: a nurse who came into contact with the index case of the deadly virus in the country.
The fear, which started building about two weeks ago when the presence of the deadly virus was first announced in the country, has heightened among Nigerians, cutting across class, profession, religion or creed.
In the words of a medical doctor who spoke with The Nation, “Matters are no longer at ease in the country.”
Aside from the human casualties of the virus in Nigeria, checks revealed that the virus is already destroying businesses, depriving the people of their means of livelihood and threatening total confusion in the nation’s health sector.
While medical practitioners now exhibit unusual fear in dealing with patients brought to their hospitals, irrespective of what ailment the patients suffer from, food vendors and bush meat sellers are beginning to feel the pains as people now avoid such delicacies like lepers.
Traditional hunters are not left out of the loss of livelihood, as they are now compelled to eat their games themselves or leave them to rot.
Before now, the stretch of road between Ikorodu and Ijebu-Ode, two cities in Lagos and Ogun states, had been a popular stretch for lovers of bush meat. Every day, the bush meat market along the road used to be a busy scene as the women smiled home at the end of every market day, but not anymore.
When The Nation visited the market during the week, the faces of the bush meat sellers told the story that all was not well. They were full of groaning and frustration as they spoke about the development.
Bush meat sellers’ frustration
In Lagos, Kosefobamu Lateef is sad over his loss of revenue. She said sales have been hampered since the outbreak of the deadly virus was reported.
She said: “There have been no sales since the campaign against the consumption of bush meat began. Our customers have run away, leaving us to suffer untold losses. Before the campaign began, I used to sell between 20 and 30 bush meats every day. But that is no longer the case.
“These days, I sit in the cold from morning till night without anybody coming to ask what we are selling. This place that was formerly experiencing high traffic has become a ghost town. It has become a no go area for people all because of a campaign that is unfounded.
“Ebola is not in grasscutter. it is not in antelopes. It is not in monkeys. Neither is it in porcupines. If they want us to bring our bush meats for tests, we are ready. We are prepared to make our hunters go into the bush, kill fresh bush meats and give them to the government and medical practitioners to subject them to laboratory tests to know if they have Ebola in them. It is a fallacy that bush meat is the cause of Ebola.
The popular bush meat spot along Isaac Boro Expressway in Yenagoa,, Bayela State, which before now was a beehive of activities, has become a shadow of itself. Areas like the Otiotio Junction and the Julius Berger axis of Azikoro end of the expressway, all popular spots for bush meat like antelope, grass-cutter, wild pig, hedgehog and monkeys, have been deserted, leaving the meat sellers frustrated.
James has for a long time sold bush meat at the market, but the current development leaves him a sad man. “You can see that my shop is deserted. It has been difficult to sell bush meat since this Ebola alert started. I have not been able to sell anything,” he lamented.
Another dealer, who identified herself simply as Mrs. Vivian, observed that bush meat was being treated like a taboo since the Ebola alert.
She said: “Bush meat, for now, is like a taboo to many because of the reports linking the virus to wild animals. Customers are avoiding bush meat right now, so we have to stop preparing it.”
At the popular Atimbo bush meat joint in Calabar, Cross River State, operators said patronage had dropped since the outbreak of the virus.
One of them, Grace, said: “Although people are still coming to eat meat here, I have heard some of them saying that bush meat is killing people. Is it today that people started eating bush meat? At one time, they said beans was killing people. At another time, they said it was Indomie noodles. Tomorrow they will say people should not eat cow meat. My business is not doing badly because of this news. I am still selling well, but I would say not as much as before.”
Another bush meat seller, however, complained bitterly about poor patronage.
He said: “People are no longer buying bush meat. We have told the people that supply us meat to reduce the quantity they supply because patronage has dropped. Even people who used to eat bush meat before when they come here have stopped eating it. They would rather eat cow leg or any other thing, but not bush meat.”
In Akure, Ondo State, people who usually patronise eateries and joints where bush meats are part of the menu have reduced tremendously. Findings show that the people now prefer joints where fresh fish or cow meat are served.
In Edo State, the consumption of bush meat like monkeys, porcupines and others has dropped, following reports that the Ebola virus could be contracted from consumption of bush meat.
At the popular Madam Ogbelaka ‘buka’, the proprietress said she had to stop losing money by removing bush-meat from her list of delicacies.
Another operator, popular for fresh palm wine and bush meat, is counting his losses, as the spot has become deserted.
At several markets like Uwa, Yanga, Osa and New Benin where bush meat is sold in Benin City, sellers lamented low patronage. The sellers said they have resorted to consuming the meat themselves since their customers are scared of buying, even when the prices have crashed.
Vice-Chairman of Edo State Bush Meat Sellers Association, Mrs. Comfort Omoruyi, said they were dumbfounded when customers told them that the government had ordered that bush meat should not be eaten again.
She said: “Most of our customers have stopped coming. In fact, most restaurants, fast food centres and major hotels in Edo State have stopped selling bush meat over the fear of Ebola.”
In Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, sellers of bush meat are already counting their losses. Alwins Mike Akpan, the Managing Director and CEO of Eden Garden Resorts, located at Afaha Oku, Uyo village road, is sad. More than 60 per cent of his daily sales come from bush meat.
According to him, his daily sales from bush meat have reduced from N40, 000 to N1, 500.
He said: “The Ebola virus has affected patronage here a great deal. We are not selling again because of the fear of Ebola.”
In Delta State, Ogbolu community, a suburb of Asaba, is home to many relaxation joints that serve bush-meat delicacies. The proprietors of the over 100 roadside ‘bukas’ in the area are lamenting the negative impact of the Ebola virus on patronage.
Daniel Asuzu, proprietor, Uju Bar and Restaurant, said his business has experienced about 80 per cent decline since the Ebola scare started. He said that customers now only request for fish, goat meat and beef pepper soup.
He said: “People still come here to eat and drink, but they often request for fish pepper soup, because they have heard about the Ebola virus. They are afraid of eating bush-meat as they do not want to die. The Ebola virus is affecting our business. Before now, my bar sold between 40 and 50 plates of bush-meat pepper soup. But with the Ebola virus in the media, we now sell between five and ten plates daily.”
Mrs. Ngozi Okolie, a neighbour and owner of Chibudem Bar and Restaurant, said she and her family members had to eat the bush-meat meant for sale when the scare started, thereby incurring a loss of over N20, 000, following the refusal of customers to eat it.
In Warri, Mr Ofei Isah, an ardent bush-meat consumer, said he now only eats his favourite meal of bush-meat only when it is cooked at home by his wife. “I don’t trust anybody to cook my bush-meat well enough for it to be safe. They would usually rush it, but if I or my wife cooks it, we take our time doing it at the right temperature to ensure that if there is any virus, it does not survive. The fear of Ebola is real and everybody must protect himself without being prodded,” he added.
In Ondo State, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, held a sensitisation meeting with public and private health practitioners in the state, as part of efforts to create awareness on the deadly virus.
Already, the state has designated three hospitals with facilities to quarantine any suspected case in the state. The centres are the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, for the Northern Senatorial District; State Specialist Hospital, Akure, for the Central Senatorial District and the State Specialist Hospital, Okitipupa, to take care of the South Senatorial District.
Hunters count losses
In Akure, Ondo State, the camp of the hunters association are struggling to come to terms with the news linking the deadly Ebola virus with the consumption of bush meat. One of its executive members said the hunters had lost patronage. He, however, assured that bush meats are safe for consumption.
In Lagos, a hunter, who identified himself as Tijani, said Ebola had deprived him of his means of livelihood. He said: “I have stopped going to hunt for animals for commercial purposes because nobody buys it anymore. I only hunt for the consumption of my family. They say it is bush meat that causes Ebola, but we have not contracted it since we have been eating bush meat.
“It has made people like me jobless and dependent. I have been a hunter for the past 40 years and do not know of any other business that I can go into at this age to earn a living.”
Apprehension among health workers
Since the news broke that a doctor and a nurse who came in contact with the first reported case of Ebola virus in Nigeria contracted the virus, health workers across the country have begun to express serious concern and caution in handling their patients.
A nurse, Miss Stella Esimaegu, is presently at a loss over what to do with her job. Her fiancé has given her the option to quit her job or lose him.
“My fiancé has warned me to stop my nursing work because of Ebola. He said I would go into another business. I am confused over what to do because I love nursing, but at the same time I don’t want to lose my fiancé.”
A medical practitioner, Dr Fatokin, advised caution. While he is not scared, Fatokin said he is approaching every patient with caution and in line with laid down guidelines on how to handle patients in hospitals.
Another medical practitioner, Dr. Labaika Adeyemi, advised his colleagues to take up the battle and stand by their patients. According to him, in cases like this, the doctor remains the hope of the people and should adhere to the dictates of their profession.
He, however, advised that caution should be the watchword. “The only thing is that we should be cautious when handling medical cases.”
When The Nation visited some hospitals in Edo State, some nurses were seen wearing face masks and attending to patients.
A doctor said he was exercising caution when attending to patients.
Another doctor who asked not to be named said: “It is not an outbreak, and as such could be curtailed. I saw people wearing masks and gloves. We don’t rush to attend to cases again. We have to be very careful because nobody wants to die.”
Also, a matron, who pleaded anonymity, said she is not afraid of contracting Ebola virus because she was trained to care for patients. She said Ebola, just like other diseases before it, would soon become a thing of the past.
According to her, “We cannot say because of Ebola, we should push patients away. My nurses cannot tell me that they are afraid because when I take the lead, they will follow. However we are careful, but it is God that protects.”
In Bayelsa State, doctors have started taking precautionary measures when dealing with their patients.
Some of the nurses told The Nation that they no longer rush to receive patients even in emergency situations.
A nurse at the Federal Medcal Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, Esther Odifi, said the Ebola virus had compelled them to observe the universal precautionary measures before and after handling patients.
“Normally, we were taught the universal precautionary measures of wearing gloves and washing our hands after each medical procedure,” she said.
Also, Dr. Ogidigba Peter, who works at a private hospital in Yenagoa, lamented the difficulties faced by medical practitioners since the Ebola scare. He said Ebola became a big challenge because of its nature.
“It is not just a challenge, it is a big challenge. The direct people at risk are the medical doctors. Seeing that the Ebola virus is similar to every common fever, its early symptoms are more or less like the symptoms of malaria fever because there is fever in Ebola and there is fever in malaria. Weakness of the joints is a symptom of malaria as well as the virus.
Hunters consult oracle over Ebola
As part of efforts to find a solution to the Ebola scare, some stakeholders in the bush meat business in Edo State have taken steps to curtail the spread of the disease.
A bush meat seller, Osasogie Salami, said they had resolved to seek spiritual means of stopping the spread of Ebola virus with a view to boosting their business.
He said: “For now, only few people who are yet to believe the existence of Ebola do come to patronise us at Uwa Market. I ate monkey meat yesterday and I am still alive,” she said.
Burden of unpaid loans
Some bush meat sellers said that when their businesses were booming, they took loans from micro finance banks to expand. But the women are now gripped with the fear of running into serious debts.
Mrs. Egwuatu expressed worries over the development and her future. She said: “I took a loan of N200, 000 from a microfinance bank to boost my business. I had invested everything when the news broke that people should do away with bush meat. The microfinance bank called me last week to ask for part of their money, but I promised them that I would pay it this week.
“Unfortunately, I have not been able to raise a dime to give them. It never occurred to me that things would be worse off this week than it was last week. Right now, I don’t know what to tell the officials of the bank when they come to me. I am afraid because I don’t know what they would do with my life.”
Mrs. Lateef also bared her minds on the issue. According to her, “So many of our colleagues have fled Lagos State because they took loan from microfinance banks to buy bush meat but could not pay back. How would they pay back the capital and the interests when there have been no sales? I took a loan of N2 million and as I am talking to you now, I don’t know how I would pay back.
“From the way things are even going now, I am automatically out of job because it is obvious that we would close shops. If it happens that I close my business tomorrow, where would I begin from? This is the only business I have been engaged in all my life.
“From this business, some of us have built houses, train our children in higher institutions, send our children abroad and also accomplish other things in life. We equally pay tax and permit to the governments at all levels. After all these years of investment in this business, it is not easy to go back to square one.”
