TIME TO BE PROACTIVE

Nick Dazang

For Kebbi State, it not only rains, it pours. Consider the catalogue of its woes: Like most States in the North, it is immersed in wanton and appalling poverty. Apart from boasting of one of the highest poverty rates, the World Bank, via its International Poverty Rate in 2019 reported that 76.7% of its citizens lived on less than $3.65 a day. A whopping 96.5% of its citizens lived on $6.85 per day in the same year.

The Poverty Ranking in the Six Geopolitical Zones shows that the North West, of which Kebbi State is a part, has the highest level of poverty, put at 71.4%. It is followed closely by the North East at 69.1%.
Kebbi State is another of Nigeria’s unfortunate killing fields. On a near-daily basis, the State is being menaced by mendacious terrorists of the Boko Haram or Lakurawa variety. The terrorists leave death and destruction on their trail.

As if these travails were not enough, Kebbi State was afflicted recently by the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis(CMS). Not less than twenty eight fatalities were recorded. Hundreds of others were hospitalized.
It is tempting to ascribe these fatalities to an act of God. But to do so will be wicked in the extreme and to commit an act of blasphemy. The Sahel and the Savannah areas are prone to meningitis. In fact, in Nigeria, the three geopolitical zones of the North are susceptible to this epidemic.
Additionally, and this is trite knowledge, cases of meningitis have been reported going back to decades, if not centuries. All-year round outbreaks of the meningitis epidemic occur during the dry season, especially between November and May.

As is common knowledge to those domiciled in the aforesaid geopolitical zones, meningitis leads to death or brain damage/impairment. It is worsened by overcrowding and poor ventilation. Meningitis can also be transmitted through direct contact with respiratory secretions from an infected person, especially during close contact like coughing and sneezing. Little wonder, the outbreaks are common during the hot season when there are heatwaves.
Mercifully, in spite of meningitis’s propensity to visit deaths on an epidemic scale, there is a vaccine against its bacterial causes such as NEISSERIA MENINGIDIS. This vaccine is available and is highly recommended. Also, the scourge of meningitis can be mitigated by avoiding overcrowded places or rooms and staying in ventilated spaces.

Since meningitis is perennial, and in some cases annual, and the season of its outbreak is well known and documented, and there is a vaccine for it, one cannot fathom why our State governments in the three geopolitical zones do not procure this vaccine and administer it on their citizens in advance of its outbreaks. Often, it is when there is an outbreak or there is an epidemic that our governments summon the fire brigades. They react, rather than being proactive. In the process, precious lives are lost and the many victims of the disease who survive it are maimed for the rest of their miserable lives.

There is no gain saying it that our lackadaisical and complacent attitudes to meningitis explain why we continue to register needless deaths occasioned by other common but avoidable health challenges. Cholera, for example, is caused by poor hygiene. And anytime there is an outbreak, it kills in hundreds, if not thousands. This can be averted through education and sensitization of our citizens.
There is a point to which the unfortunate meningitis outbreak in Kebbi State is a metaphor and it can be extrapolated to other States in the North. It also explains why we, in the North, are keeping the rear in all facets of development. While other States of the federation get their priorities right by investing muscularly in education, health, infrastructure and skills acquisition, we prioritize vain or mundane things and concerns which should be in the realm of the private. We pander needlessly and sanctimoniously to religion. We abdicate our responsibilities to the people.
The upshot of this is that the North today is squalid and backward. It has the largest number of out of school children. It has the highest rate of poverty in Nigeria. It is the epicenter and vortex of terrorism. The North’s backwardness is such that by the UN’s accounting, it will take another fifty years to catch up with its Southern compatriot. That is assuming that the South would mark time or stand still!
The lives and futures of millions are at stake. Those in leadership positions must demonstrate sensitivity, responsibility and proactivity. They must prioritize things that impact their people positively and for the long haul. That will empower them and enable them to contribute to the Nigerian commonwealth. To do otherwise, and to carry on without caring a hoot, is to stand indicted. It is the equivalent of the leadership having innocent blood on its hands.