Here we go again, Cholera outbreak in Nigeria. Let’s be frank, how much protection do the ordinary people of Nigeria enjoy from their government?
In my social studies class back in primary school I was taught that the presence of the government is felt in the rural areas through the provision of basic amenities and infrastructures.
But it seems the rural areas are far from experiencing these benefits.
- In Kano, 87 persons already dead, 1,315 others infected.
- Bauchi State has recorded 47 deaths and 1,200 infections
- In Borno 40 persons are dead and 115 others are infected.
Scary news? I don’t think so. It sounds like stale news to me. Just yesterday I was going through some old news magazines and saw several news reports on this same issue almost at same time of the year in the past.
Health experts were able to prove that the outbreaks were as a result of rain water washing dirt into open and ponds in some Nigerian villages.
In these villages there mains source of drinking water are these wells and ponds.
In 2009 it was recorded that 260 persons died from Cholera outbreak in four northern states and so many more in past years.
I am absolutely left to wonder why we cannot learn from our past. It makes do to say that developed nations say that the past is the foundation for the future, but in Nigeria I think we are saying forget the past and focus on the future, take each day as it comes.
Very funny? But that is what our actions and that of our public office holders depict. If not so explain how an outbreak that has been occurring in the past, in these same regions and at the same time of the year keeps reoccurring and people still get killed.
World health organization (WHO) and the state ministry of health are bold enough to blame the lost lives on the lack of public health laboratory to ascertain if the infect is actually Cholera or gastro-enteritis.
Now my question is, should anyone die from any of these diseases in the first instance? If a basic infrastructure as simple as pipe borne water is in place these infections will be a stale news as it is supposed to be.
The millennium development goals (MDGs) which has been setup to address issues such as
1. Promoting opportunity:
Encouraging effective private investment
Expanding into international markets
Building the assets of poor people
Addressing asset inequalities across gender, ethnic, racial and social divides
Getting infrastructure and knowledge to poor area-rural and urban.
2. Facilitating Empowerment:
Laying the political and legal basis for inclusive development
Creating public administration that foster growth and equity
Promoting inclusive decentralization and community development
Promoting gender equity
Tracking social barriers
3. Enhancing Security:
Formulating a modular approach to helping poor people manage risk
Shocks-financial and natural
Designing national systems of social risk management that are also pro-growth
Addressing civil conflict
Tackling the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
has created an opportunity for our public office holders to amass wealth by looting public funds, to the extent that some of the looting baffles even the Devil.
What is the fate of the citizens residing in these rural who are the true beneficiaries of MDGs? They are yet to reap the dividends.
The Cholera infection that is currently ravaging the whole of Nigeria could have been avoided if some people are doing their job.
Please Federal Government come to the aid of the masses and put this issue to rest, because there will be rainy season again next year and the wells and ponds will be flooded again.
