March 26, 2009
Various governments across the world daily grapple with the devastating effects of global economic crisis that has not been known since the Great Depression in 1930s. The advanced capitalist economies in Europe, Asia and North America, particularly the United States have injected several billions of dollars of tax payer’s money to tame the rampaging economic tsunami which has swept some of the biggest financial institutions and automobile companies in Europe and the United States of America, with attendant record corporate profit plunge and job losses. Beyond financial sectors some of the governments have evolved various fiscal stimulus packages to protect vital sectors of the economy like health care delivery system and agriculture amongst others, with improved budgetary allocation and subsidies to farmers, so as to prevent complete cataclysm.
In Nigeria, the reverse is the case. Hypocrisy, and sheer grandstanding by government and its officials at all levels take center stage. The Musa Yar’Adua led PDP government, faced with the declining volumes in the external foreign reserves (presently put at $48 billion from $63 billion in September last year), and the plummeting price of crude oil at the international market, currently selling below the budgetary benchmark of 45 dollars per barrel, seems to be making the right noise about the need to make the agricultural sector of the economy productive. This is to complement the petroleum industry which presently accounts for more than 95% of the foreign exchange earnings. Meanwhile, the same government has concluded plans to remove subsidy from fertilizers to farmers come 2010.
Recently, the federal government in an open display of ‘magnanimity and sympathy’ towards the poor working people of Nigeria reduced the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol by a miserable #5 per litter, as a gesture from the government to lessen the hardship faced by the poor majority, especially in this trying periods of global economic crisis. But the same government only announced a few days later, the complete deregulation of the petroleum industry, thereby removing subsidy from the petroleum product, on the grounds that government was spending too much money subsidizing the product (or corruption and inefficiency), and could no longer continue!
The Lagos State government, apparently preoccupied by the enormous challenges of a mega city development projects, and not wanting to be distracted by the immense economic risk and the threat posed to public health by avian influenza pandemic, decided to organize public enlightenment campaigns to sensitize the general public to prevent the spread of the disease. The program tagged Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic, took place at Ikorodu local government secretariat, and other local governments across the state simultaneously. The event held on February 9th, 2009, and anchored by the state ministry of information and strategy; with representatives from the federal ministry of information turn out to be “fowl play”.
Amongst other things, attendance at the program was purely political patronage. Curiously, no poultry farmer was formally invited to the event with about 50 people in attendance, despite the fact that the local government accounted for over 65% of the poultry farmers in the state. This writer, and three other persons, among whom, two were lecturers of the state owned Polytechnic, were the only exception. We were there by mere coincidence. One of the participants alluded to this obvious flaws, when he made the observation that, the poultry farmers who are directly affected were conspicuously absent at the sensitisation campaign. He further stated that the individuals therein present like himself, have little or no business technically speaking with birds, except constituting parts of the larger market for poultry consumptions. Dr Allison, the guest speaker at the program, who also doubled as the head of the state’s committee on avian influenza enlightenment campaigns, having apparently gone through the attendance’s list, responded by presenting this writer as one of the poultry farmers, even though, I was there accidentally!
This only shows the depth of falsehood and double-talk that has characterized governance at all levels in Nigeria, where workshops (talk shops) under different guises that have no direct links with the well-being of the poor majority of Nigerians, are frequently organized by government agencies, to hoodwink and bamboozle the general public that government was indeed working. In reality such avenues are used as conduit pipes to swindle tax payer’s money, that should have been spent on the revival of ailing sectors of the economy and upgrade of our decaying social infrastructure, so as to improve the poor living standards of Nigerians. This explains the reason the Lagos state government engaged in its quasi-enlightenment campaigns program, to justify the huge sums of money collected from donor agencies like the European Union, United Nations, United States Agency for International Development, amongst others. The grants are meant to curtain fresh outbreak of the disease and equally to pay compensations to farmers, whose birds constituted the largest percentage of those destroyed, when the infection broke out in 2005/2006
In Nigeria, it’s a known fact that huge proportions of annual budget are wasted, mismanaged, and looted through workshops and jamborees, under different themes. We have just been treated to colossal waste called Nigeria Re-branding project campaigns, currently embarked upon by Dora Akinyuli, the incumbent minister of information and communication. Just like pet projects of first ladies, Akinyuli could not continue with Heart of Africa project of the Obasanjo government.
By and large, in addition to outrageously jumbo pay, the political office holders loot treasury while economic policies are meant to benefit themselves and their business associates. Hence, the failure of the budget that has become annual ritual, to reflect in the living conditions of lives of an average Nigerian. This is compounded by government unbridled implementations of neo-liberal economic policies, which ensure the economy remain in the woods with social infrastructure and the productive sectors of the economy moribund and undeveloped, at the expense of the poor working class majority of Nigerians.
THE SCOURGE OF AVIAN AND HUMAN INFLUENZA PANDEMIC
It will be recalled that in 2005/2006, there was a worldwide scourge of avian influenza infections, which ravaged the poultry industries in Asia, Near East, Europe and parts of the Africa. In some cases, human deaths were recorded, even in Kaduna, the North central Nigeria, where one person was reported to have died from the human strain H5N1 virus. The outbreak of avian influenza also known as bird flu and fowl plague, which started in Asian China, had such a devastating effects, leading to a colossal destruction of poultry industries around the world. Nigeria and some other African countries like Egypt and Benin Republic were not spared the horrors.
The magnitude of economic losses resulting from the scourge and the possible health hazards posed to human beings across the global by the influenza viruses, compelled organizations like the EU, USIAD, UN etc to donate funds especially to third world countries like Nigeria, to fight the infections and also to curtailed fresh out breaks in future, including paying compensations to farmers whose birds were destroyed. While farmers in others countries were paid accordingly, in Nigeria the payment was used as political patronage, to party members and cronies. For instance Sambawa farms (Nig) Ltd, located in Kaduna, owned by a serving Federal minister at that time, benefited immensely, and Obasanjo farms (Nig) Limited, owned by the then incumbent president of the country also benefited handsomely from the largess. Other few selected farms across the country owned by individuals connected to the government officials also benefited. The genuine poor farmers, whose birds constituted the largest number destroyed were left without being paid, thereby depriving them of their means of livelihood, which many have still not recovered from..
The Lagos state Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Chief enoch Ajiboso, said recently, while addressing over 700 farmers at a workshop in Alausa: “We are quite aware of some sharp practices in this sector in the past, especially where fake farmers cornered funds meant for agricultural development to the detriment of the real farmers. This administration is against this and it will do all that is within its capacity to look into genuine farmer’s plight and solve them, but we need your contributions as to the way forward”.( The Guardian, Thursday, March 5, 2009 ). But what the Honorable commissioner didn’t tell the public was that these fake farmers are no other persons than the government officials and their cronies who use front farms and companies, real or fake, to corner money meant for agricultural development, through spurious workshops and seminars, to the detriment of genuine but poor farmers!
Avian influenza is an infection caused by viruses called orthomyxovirus Type A. These influenza viruses occur naturally among birds; wild birds worldwide carry the viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick from them. However, avian influenza is very contagious among birds and can make some domesticated bird including chicken, ducks, and turkeys, very sick and kill them. It is spread by aerosol via the respiratory tract and breathing. The infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva, nasal secretions and feaces. Susceptible birds become infected when they have contact with contaminated secretions or excretions or with surfaces that are contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds. Domesticated birds may also become infected with avian influenza virus through direct contact with infected water fowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with surfaces (such as dirt or cages) or materials (such as water or feed) that have been contaminated with the virus.
Infection with avian influenza viruses in domestic poultry causes two main forms of diseases that are distinguished by low and high extremes of virulence. The low pathogenic form may go undetected and usually causes only mild symptoms (such as ruffled feather and a drop in egg production). However, the highly pathogenic form spreads more rapidly through flocks of poultry. This form may cause disease that affects multiple internal organs and has a mortality rate that can reach 90-100% often within 48 hours. Clinical signs include respiratory distress, coughing, sneezing, depression, sinusitis, emaciation, off feed and nervous disorder.
While influenza A viruses is found chiefly in birds, the infections with these viruses can occur in humans. The risk from avian influenza is generally low to most people, because the viruses do not usually infect humans. However, confirmed cases of human infection from several subtypes have been reported since 1997.Most cases of avian influenza infection in human have resulted from contact with infected poultry or surfaces contaminated with secretions/excretions from infected birds. The spread of avian influenza viruses from one ill person to another has been reported rarely, and transmission has not been observed to continue beyond person. There are three known A subtypes (H1N1, H1N2 and N3N2), that currently circulate among human. It’s likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans.
Of the few avian influenza viruses that have crossed the species barrier to infect humans, H5N1 has caused the largest of detected cases of severe disease and death in humans. Symptoms include: fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, eye infection, pneumonia, severe respiratory diseases, and other life-threatening complications. There is now growing concerns by scientists that H5N1 virus could one day be able to infect humans and spread easily from one person to another, due to its ability to change. Because these viruses do not commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. It is feared that if H5N1 virus were to gain the capacity to spread easily from person to person, an influenza pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) could begin.
Although nobody can predict when a pandemic might occur, experts around the world are watching the H5N1 situation in Asia and Europe very closely and are preparing for the possibility that the virus may begin to spread more easily and widely from person to person. This has been compounded by the current global economic crisis and climate change, which according to World Health Organization (WHO) recently, has created worsening conditions for the easy spread of diseases. According to the experts, diseases that have been eradicated may resurface and become more common as the economic downturn batters an already weakened public health system, creating environmental conditions conducive to infectious diseases spread by insects or other animals. They said that such vector borne diseases were capable of spreading around the world much more rapidly due to massive south-to-north immigration, rapid transportation and global trade.
At the 23rd Forum on Global Issues held recently in Berlin, Germany, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, said: “Events such as the financial crisis and climate change are makers of massive failure in the international systems that govern the way nations and their populations interact. The world desperately needs a corrective strategy. A world that is greatly out of balance in matters of health is neither stable nor secured”(The Guardian, Friday, March 20, 2009).
HOW PREPARED IS NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT?
The preparedness and the ability of the Nigerian government and its scientists to deal with emergency situations in the event of possible pandemic of contagious human influenza infections are wobbling. This can be inferred from the way the recent outbreak of infectious diseases like Lassa fever, and cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM). As at the last count over 5,323 cases of CSM have been reported in different parts of the country with 333 deaths in 22 states, and Lassa fever, a very deadly disease, has also claimed 5 deaths within two weeks, with over 12 cases recorded are presently being managed.
A similar epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis in 1996 led to the death of over 1,181 Nigerians and maimed over 10,000 .The outbreak described as the worst ever in the country, led to the Pfizer drug trial controversy, that allegedly used a drug Trovafloxacin (commonly called Trovan) to treat children in a 1996 outbreak of CSM in Kano district.
Reports also have it that the cases of Lassa fever infection is more worrisome, because of the risk it poses to health workers. Already, 4 health staff working in the National Hospital, Abuja who were taking care of one of the Lassa fever cases have also fallen ill and the laboratory investigations have confirmed they are infected with Lassa fever. Within a week, 13 cases with deaths have been recorded. Although the Nigerian minister for health, professor Babatunde Osotimehin,a seasoned academic and administrator, claimed that the government had anticipated the outbreak since September 3rd ,2008, and alerted all states in the meningitis belt accordingly. They were asked to intensify surveillance, pre-position drugs, and laboratory materials and sensitize the public on preventive measures, and even distributed oily chloramphenicol as well as laboratory reagents materials for confirmation of cases, yet, by the end of February 2009, 5,323 cases and 333 deaths have been recorded from 22 states, with 89 local governments crossing the epidemic threshold! This speaks volume of government ability to manage outbreak of contagious infections, and its preparedness for a possible human influenza pandemic. Meanwhile, absence of diagnostic facilities and lack sufficient data on the prevalence and occurrence has been blamed as militating factor against the control of Lassa fever.
In Nigeria, health care delivery system is in shambles. Virtually all the public hospitals around the country are begging for funds from both the state and federal government. This has led to absence of common diagnostic materials and modern medical equipment. There are dilapidated building, insufficient wards, inadequate medical personals etc. All this has created a situation where these institutions have become what someone rightly referred to as consulting clinics. Often times, government officials including the president go abroad, where they are assured of better services, to treat their slightest ailments. In fact, things are so bad with our hospitals nowadays, that it is not unusual for some individuals with the means, and government officials preferring to travel to overseas hospitals to die than risk dying in Nigeria hospitals. Yet, the poor working class majority die every day from common treatable diseases in these hospitals.
Recently, at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, in Ogun state,a sextuplet mother died from excessive bleeding after being delivered of her babies through ceasarean operation. Reports have it that 4 out 6 of the babies delivered prematurely could not be accommodated at the hospital and had to be transferred to another hospital due to lack of incubators, as the teaching hospital only possessed two. This hapless woman’s life and many other people are sacrificed daily at the altar of official greed by elected officials, whose penchant for looting public funds at the expense of the needs of Nigerians have thrown up rot in our public infrastructure, including the public hospitals that have almost collapsed. The so called private hospitals are no alternative since most of them lack basic facilities for treating the commonest diseases, and only represent center for exploitations without commensurate services! It’s not surprising therefore that Nigeria ranked third highest in the world, in infant and maternal mortality rate, according to recent World Bank reports. Turai Yar’Adua, the wife of the President (on behalf of the government!), has shouted herself hoarse denying the findings, however without presenting her own facts and figures
Presently, government at all levels in Nigeria apart from the Lagos state government who has organized a quasi-enlightenment campaign programs on the pending human influenza pandemic, have done nothing practically to prepare for possible outbreaks. They have all maintained a graveyard silence over the issue, while squandering billions of naira meant for that purpose. But in the place of the irresponsible government, the US government through its ambassador, Robin Sanders, donated facility to the federal government at the National hospital, Abuja, to assist in fighting the scourge of avian influenza outbreak, and possible human influenza pandemic.
Veterinary facilities across the country are presently being under funded, the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), in Vom, Plateau state, can barely carry out researches, let alone producing vaccines for common livestock diseases, due to dearth of modern facilities. In the same vein, the very few faculties of veterinary medicine in universities across the country are ill-equipped to effectively train veterinary personnel that could meet the challenges of a possible human influenza pandemic. At the laboratories of the department of public health and preventive medicine of the University of Ibadan, scientists practically work with bare hands, due to absences of common staining reagents, and modern microscopes for effective and result oriented researches.
Veterinary clinics are also not left of out these sorry states of things, in states where they still exist. In Lagos state for instance, the government owned veterinary clinics like the one located at Oko Oba, Agege, which was supposedly equipped with modern facilities in response to the avian influenza outbreak in 2005/2006, is presently gathering dusts, due to lack of personnel and under funding by the government. At Ikorodu Vet. Clinic located close to the state owned Polytechnic, along Shagamu road; weeds have over grown the clinic, with just a gate man as staff at the clinic. The story at Ikoyi Vet. Clinic located in Keffi Street is not different. In the coming periods, as a result of the mega city projects, these clinics and the land mass they occupied might be sold to individuals in government or corporate business for non performance! The same pathetic story permeates other clinics across the country, where only few ones engaged in skeletal consulting.
WAY FOWARD
As stated above, it is obvious that governments at all levels have done little or nothing to prevent or prepare for possible outbreak of human influenza pandemic. In any case, government will do nothing till there are outbreaks. Even at the best of times, when the petro-dollars were rolling in, no concerted efforts were made to reposition our health institutions, agriculture, education, and other sectors, rather these monies were looted. Now that hard times are here occasioned by the global economic meltdown, the worsening conditions of the poor masses will become desperate if there is yet another outbreak and they will suffer untold hardship.
Therefore, to avert this pending influenza tsunami, this might be more vicious than the current global economic downturn and financial crisis, labor and civil societies organizations must rally the poor working class majority to urgently demand that funds are immediately deploy to the development agriculture, health care delivery, education and other critical sectors of the economy, to commend researches, training, production of food, drugs and vaccines and other essentials of lives, to halt outbreak of communicable diseases. Ultimately, to ensure that these funds are not diverted and looted by officials and individuals, as experience has shown, labor must insist that the utilization of funds be democratically managed and controlled by workers in these sectors. Only then can the resources be made to yield the desired results and better the lots of the poor majority, including preventing human influenza pandemic, and the eradication of other transmissible diseases.
Eko John Nicholas
Ikorodu Lagos
Email:[email protected]
08022634850
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