Alkasim Abdulkadir: Apathy and death in a time of Cholera (Y! FrontPage)

by Alkasim Abdulkadir

Alkasim Abdulkadir Y! FrontPage

We wait for government to come and cover festering water holes of maggots and mosquitoes near our homes, our poverty mentality has dulled our senses on the need to clear slimy gutters.  When did we get to this point? Even though as a people we are quick to mouth off the cliché “Cleanliness is next to godliness” yet,….

Chased by the fratricidal ethno-political crisis in Nasarawa state, they sought refuge in Namu Village in the Qua’pan Local Government Area of Plateau, there, 7000 of them stayed huddled in the highest unhygienic environment, with no access to adequate toilet facilities, nor water and food prepared under questionable hygienic surroundings. With this state of squalor, the people of Namu became a readied target for cholera. So far 8 of them have died and 61 of are receiving treatment. This development pushed the usual lethargic and highly bureaucratic bugged Federal Ministry of Health to send a team to Namu for investigations. The outcome of the investigations the government said will determine its mode of intervention.

However, one can understand the helpless squalor associated with a refugee camp, but there have been other outbreaks not only in Plateua state; there have been reports of outbreaks in Lagos, Sokoto and Zamfara states. In all, there have been recorded cases of 74 deaths, while 374 people are currently locked in a life and death battle with the epidemic.

In a statement released by the APHPN the National Chairman, Professor Tanimola Makanjuola Akande and National Secretary General, Dr. Sunday Aderibigbe in Ilorin said.  “The Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN) observes with great concern the epidemic of cholera affecting some states. This has resulted in a number of preventable deaths and the epidemic is spreading. Nigerians are encouraged to keep their environments clean. To avoid further spread, people should religiously practice hand washing and maintain good food hygiene. Individuals are encouraged to report suspected cases to the nearest health facility for immediate attention

No! We weren’t always this dirty, this same country employed sanitary inspectors at some point in our evolution. They were feared, the sanitary inspectors did their jobs diligently, and the fear of the sanitary inspector was the beginning of wisdom. Just like other aspects of our national lives, the hygienic standards of our cities and neighbourhoods deteriorated

We wait for government to come and cover festering water holes of maggots and mosquitoes near our homes, our poverty mentality has dulled our senses on the need to clear slimy gutters.  When did we get to this point? Even though as a people we are quick to mouth off the cliché “Cleanliness is next to godliness” yet, we are quick to litter the streets, throwing litter out of moving cars.

And the government must share in the blame of this outbreak. Governments at the state and local levels must go further to enforce standards of sanitary conditions, urban development boards must go beyond slum clearance and come up with effective strategies in ensuring that shanties are kept clean with communal efforts.  The greatest task of government in guarding against these annual outbreaks of epidemics still remains the need to provide clean water for consumption. We spend an approximate 82 billion Naira annually on providing water; however most of it ends up being misappropriated. According to the World Health Organisation/United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Program, in its 2012 report, -about 66 Million Nigerians had no access to clean water. As such in Nigeria providing water has become as hard as placing an orbiting shuttle in outer space. I understand the global difficulty in providing clean water supply; however ours is an appalling failure. More appalling is the absence of functional public toilets in our urban centers. Even in some parts of Abuja metropolis, there are large sprawls not covered by the FCT Water Board and these are places with close proximity to the city centre.  These areas rely on water truck pushers –the Mairuwa sellers for their water needs, while some households have rigged motorized boreholes to provide water.

Television, radio and newspapers have not done enough either on sounding the alarm to warn people of their poor hygiene state, it is expected that this should be treated as an emergency in the public’s interest, as more sustained public service awareness will go a long way in reminding the populace that there is a clear and present danger at hand.

There are no celebrities spreading the gospel of boiling water before drinking, of washing vegetables thoroughly before cooking, of sand filling stagnant pools of water aka “Potopoto”. They simply don’t care or don’t care enough. Our vibrant social media bloc who make causes trend globally, attracting mainstream global media organizations and setting the agenda at home haven’t also paid enough attention to the epidemic either, I know it is not a plane crash nor is it an alleged graft involving purloined billions of Naira by public servants. However, people have died and more are precariously on the threshold of death. Not much has been heard from CSOs who work as care givers either.

The apathy is befuddling, why are we not up in arms against this ravaging cholera epidemic? Why are we content with just reeling out statistics in the face of the epidemic? Where is our sense of urgency?

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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