By Ugochukwu
Ejinkeonye
Recently
(January 2015), Nigeria’s
Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, confirmed the outbreak of bird flu in eleven
states of the federation. The states affected are Kano, Lagos,
Ogun, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Imo,
Oyo and Jigawa states.
Not many Nigerians even heard of the
outbreak which could really be very disastrous if not properly managed. This was because the
Federal Government not only immediately identified and depopulated the 39 farms
affected by the flu in the eleven states, it also approved N145 million for the
owners of the farms as compensation for the loss they suffered as a result of
the depopulation exercise. As we know, depopulation is one of the most
effective measures usually taken to control the spread of the avian flu. Each
of the affected farms got N1.4 million which was disbursed within 72 hours of
the killing of the infected and exposed birds.
We must also commend the owners of those farms for cooperating with the
government to arrest the looming epidemic.
When it was reported that Nigeria had recorded “the first” human
casualty from bird flu in 2007,
a World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesperson, Gregory
Hartl, said cases of humans contracting the H5N1 virus (which causes the bird
flu) in Nigeria should come to no one as a surprise, considering the experience
in a country like Indonesia, which, like Nigeria, has huge concentrations of
poultry where human beings live.
“It does not change anything from a public health point of view.
It had to happen sooner or later,” Hartl said.
The New Zealand Herald of February 1, 2007, quotes unnamed
“experts” as identifying Nigeria
as one of the countries that constitute the “weakest links in the global
attempt to stem infections of birds.”
