by Tunde Leye
Like every other clime in the world, we have our problems. Ebola is merely one of them. There are economic, security, political and social challenges ravaging Africa. But our intellectuals are too lazy, stuck up and buried in studying their archaic books to do the gritty work of finding workable solutions to African problems.
I was in church last week and the Pastor said “turn to you neighbor and give him a high five and…” But unlike the usual hundred percent compliance with the pastor’s instructions, most people recited the message but did not high five their neighbors, me included. And the reason for our disobedience is not farfetched – the fear of Ebola is the beginning of wisdom. So with surges in the sales of sanitizers, West African nations banning flights from each other, Pastor Ituah’s John G. Lake statement, digging up Iwu’s over a decade old bitter kola Ebola cure statement and Jim Iyke’s attention seeking theatrics, we are in the center of the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. And the disease has lives up to its deadly reputation thus far, with an almost hundred percent fatality rate.
Apart from the Ebola Reston strain that is native to the Philippines and which an incident occurred in the United States (this was quickly contained and found to be nonfatal to humans) all other strains of Ebola are native to Africa and all outbreaks have been restricted to West and Central Africa. Therefore, it is essentially an African problem. In fact, the reportage of the last outbreak shows the premium placed on African lives. When hundreds of Africans were dying, there was generic type reporting of the disease. The moment one American citizen was confirmed infected and dead, the world media went into a frenzy. Even the African media followed suit.
Right now, there is no cure for Ebola. This is typical of diseases caused by viruses. But the first case of Ebola was reported in 1976, 38 years ago. This is enough time to have developed a vaccine for the disease. But no, African intellectuals prefer to look for bitter kola palliatives. And since it has really not affected European, American or Asian lives, they expectedly have not put in resources into developing either vaccines to prevent it, or to develop treatment methods to ensure that fatalities are not almost guaranteed upon infection. And this is another manifestation of the African problem.
Like every other clime in the world, we have our problems. Ebola is merely one of them. There are economic, security, political and social challenges ravaging Africa. But our intellectuals are too lazy, stuck up and buried in studying their archaic books to do the gritty work of finding workable solutions to African problems. Our governments and leaders are too occupied with stealing and perpetuating themselves in power to be of much use to solve our problems.
So the solution to African problems are outsourced. To NGOs. To foreign intellectuals. To foreign governments. To foreign development organizations like the IMF and World Bank. We wait for them to develop solutions and then attempt to import these solutions wholesale. But we forget that these people have their own interests and agendas, hence they will only commit resources to finding solutions to problems that fit their interests. So where we have situations like Ebola which do not really affect these foreigners, we have 38 years where we African do nothing to create solutions and where the foreigners ignore the problems too. And so, these problems repeatedly take their toll on the African people. Africans have outsources their solutions and we see the consequences all around us.
Contrast this with the way the Chinese handle their own problems. To compare like for like, I will use another virus that ravaged the Chinese last year, the H7N9 virus, more popularly known as the Bird Flu Virus. Unlike Ebola which has over ninety percent fatality, Bird Flu has about fifty percent fatality rates. It was first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013, killing 46 people. By May 2013, two months later, Chinese scientists had developed vaccines for the virus. They did not wait for some Western crusader or NGO. They buckled down and developed their own solutions. Not just content with developing solutions for this one, they have embarked on researched to study potential deadlier mutations of the virus and are preemptively developing vaccines for them. This in itself shows the paradigm of the Chinese people with respect to their problems. They work to develop very Chinese solutions to their problems, copying where relevant and synthesizing totally new solutions where required. We see this in their politics and economics. The unique mix of communist and capitalist ideologies for politics and economics the Chinese have is something that has worked well for them because it follows this paradigm – importing what is necessary and building parts that need to be unique. Look at Brazil too. They have developed a unique poverty alleviation and education driving scheme by themselves. Nations are solving the problems that colonialism and western imperialism foisted on them and many are emerging even stronger than the west. Of course some have messed things up further in the process, but they have made efforts.
We in Africa wait for Paris conferences, World Economic Forums, Structural Adjustment Programmes and the likes to drive our solutions. Without really wanting to do the hard work ourselves. Ebola and its cyclical outbreaks are a symptom. Of a deeper disease that we need to cure fast, otherwise Africa will remain the continent that every other region of the world exploits.
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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.
