Even as a priest on the pulpit, it would have been unpardonable for Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State to say that the Type C virus of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) that is ravaging parts of the country was God’s way of punishing Nigerians. That Yari is a governor, an elected one at that, makes the matter worse, especially as he absolved the leadership of blame, more or less saying the hapless victims of the disease are the architects of their misfortune.
One would have thought that the governor, who is also chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) would have words of encouragement for and assurance to the victims when he ‘mounted the pulpit’ at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue. But he rather rubbed salt on their injury when he told State House correspondents that the affliction was God’s punishment for Nigeria.
Hear him: “What we used to know as far as meningitis is concerned is the Type A virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has carried out vaccinations against this Type A virus not just in Zamfara State, but also many other states. However, because people refused to stop their nefarious activities, God now decided to send Type C virus, which has no vaccination. People have turned away from God and He has promised that ‘if you do anyhow, you see anyhow’, that is just the cause of this outbreak as far as I am concerned.
“There is no way fornication will be so rampant and God will not send a disease that cannot be cured.”
The reporters however did a good job by asking the governor who should repent: the leadership or the people. Governor Yari’s reply is instructive: ”Leaders are doing their best by enlightening the populace and working assiduously for the good of all.” He added: “Your major assignment as a leader is to convey the message; you cannot go from house to house and arrest offenders, for instance.”
With this kind of answer, it is obvious that Governor Yari was not mincing words: he said what he meant and he meant what he said, and this is regrettable. Governor Yari may have a good message but he stood his sermon on its head by blaming Nigerians (and absorbing the leadership of blame) in the meningitis scourge. We deplore his abdication of responsibility even though that is common among our ruling elite: they love the office but they lack the capacity to cope with its rigours and responsibilities. If anybody should be blamed for the outbreak of meningitis (and most other problems facing the country), we all know that the buck stops at the leaders’ desks.
Suffice it to say that if the WHO and other international bodies such as the Bill Gates Foundation and UNICEF that are also focusing on how to tackle the outbreak of the disease are on the same page with Governor Yari, they would not have been as committed as they are. What is needed at this point in time is determination to deal with the scourge and not blame-trading. If outsiders are willing to help us and are indeed committing time and enormous resources in this regard, the least we can do is to do our bit. If this is the thinking of the Zamfara State government on meningitis, then we can understand why the state has a high rate of infection, making it the highest recipient of the doses of meningitis vaccine in the country.
However, so much for Yari’s expensive goof.
We have a challenge and we should collaborate to deal with it before it gets out of hand. Already, about 300 persons have died since the fresh outbreak of the disease in February.The outbreaks peak in the dry season in certain states because of the low humidity and dusty conditions and usually end as the rainy season approaches. Its common symptoms are stiff neck, high fever, and sensitivity to light, confusion, headaches and vomiting.
These are the things governments at all levels should be enlightening Nigerians about. They need to be told to leave enough ventilation in their buildings, the need to avoid kissing since it is communicable disease. Indeed, meningitis has to do with the way we live, our nutrition, dress sense, etc. The governor’s assertion betrays an unscientific mind in an age where such consciousness helps in tackling very serious challenges to health and the environment.
Governor Yari and others like him should remember that polio ravaged the north some years ago because it was also a victim of the kind of superstition that the governor has linked meningitis to. It is part of the blissful ignorance of resisting western education. Because of its very nature, meningitis happens every year; and it has claimed many victims unsung since the incidents were hardly documented.
Now that the death tolls are being documented and we have frightening numbers of victims, we want Governor Yari to shed his toga of wilful illiteracy and a failed attempt to deodorise the way he has managed the state’s affairs. He should stop spiritualising a material matter.
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