Kate, Bright and Happiness sat on the lawn
of a Lagos brothel, sipping lager and
chatting with men in groups of two or four.
Business had been good, they said, until
Ebola arrived.
“I have been in this business for two years but
business has never been this slow,” said Kate.
“I used to have an average of seven customers per
day but I can hardly see four now since this Ebola
disease came to town,” the 25-year-old told AFP.
“Many of our customers are afraid to come to us for
fear of contracting the disease. This Ebola wahala
(problem) is really bad business. The government
should do something about it.”
With Ebola spread through the bodily fluids
of an infected person, including sweat, the
sex workers say they’ve been particularly
badly hit by public fears.
“This disease is bad-o!” said 23-year-old Bright. “It is
worse than HIV/AIDS. You can prevent HIV by using
condoms but you can’t do the same with Ebola.
“If care is not taken we will soon be driven out of
business because nobody wants to die.”
- Bushmeat hit -
Sex workers aren’t the only ones in the informal
economy — in which an estimated three-quarters of
Nigerians work — who are feeling the effects of
Ebola. Three people have died of the disease in
Lagos, and more are expected.
Sellers of bushmeat, a popular delicacy in Nigeria
and elsewhere in the region, also complain of fewer
customers.
The hunters, who catch animals such as antelope,
porcupine and bush rats, fear for their livelihoods if
the trend continues.
Fruit bats and monkeys are both thought to transmit
the virus.
Guinea, which with Sierra Leone and Liberia has had
more than 1,000 deaths from Ebola since the start of
the year, banned the consumption of bats to try to
control the spread to humans.
Nigeria has issued similar warnings about bushmeat
but not outlawed the practice.
Vivian Lateef Koshefobamu has been in the
bushmeat business nearly 30 years. But the 45-year-
old’s stall stands alone and even then only displays a
few pieces of roasted meat.
“The customers have all run away for fear of Ebola,”
she told AFP. “They are scared. Most of the bushmeat
sellers are also not coming to sell for the same
reason. But I’m not afraid.”
The health advice was “mere propaganda to spoil our
business”, she added.
- Everyone a suspect -
Elsewhere in megacity Lagos, home to more than 21
million, everyone from market traders and
undertakers, bank workers to shop assistants openly
discusses their fears and how they’ve changed their
behaviour.
At the Oke Arin and Balogun markets in central
Lagos, some traders wear gloves and protective
masks and swear that trade is slack — although the
teeming crowds suggest otherwise.
In banks, cashiers and other staff dealing with
banknotes and the public do the same.
Taxi, motorised rickshaw and bus drivers fear
carrying contaminated passengers. Few people shake
hands. Everyone is wary. Even the bus queues have
become slightly more orderly.
“If
somebody should have sweat on his or her body and
I get in contact with the person, I’m aware of the fact
that I might get the virus,” said bus passenger
Kolawole Olalekan.
“So, everybody now… we all get into the bus gently.
No rushing like the normal Lagos hustle and all.”
At MIC Royal, a firm of undertakers potentially on
the front line given that the bodies of Ebola victims
can still pass on the virus after death, bosses decided
to turn down business.
“Our company has not buried any Ebola victim since
the outbreak and we will not handle such a job if
given,” said senior manager Tunji Adesalu.
“As undertakers, we appeal to the bereaved to
encourage the cremation of their dead in order to
reduce the risks of contracting the Ebola virus.”
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