What if Ebola came through seme border?

About two years ago, in a local football field in my estate, I had engaged a young man that had come to play football on a Saturday evening. I have this tendency to ask multiple questions from new persons I meet, I wonder how I didn’t end up being a journalist. Ansu told me he was half-Liberian, half-Senegalese. That he came to Nigeria few months ago (as at 2012 then). That he had a stint in Ghana before coming to Nigeria. That he was born in Senegal but grew up in Liberia. That he schooled in Ghana and Liberia. Ansu was familiar with Cote D’Ivoire too. I asked Ansu what he came to do in Nigeria, and he said he had come to try other opportunities. He repairs phones for a living and squats in a house in Langbasa, a community in Ajah axis of Lagos.

Ansu practically tours West Africa. Of course, he must have passed through Togo and Benin Republic before coming to Nigeria from Ghana. In fact, the whole of West Africa is like Lagos to these cross-border boys, and moving from one country to another is like moving from Oshodi to Egbeda to Mushin to Ipaja. It is done with such ease.

Although this trans-border migration is not necessarily illegal as ECOWAS, the economic integration front for West African countries, operates visa-less entry into any of member states, but this still got me thinking, what if Ebola came to Nigeria through these cross-border boys? These inter-country commercial vehicles – except those operated by big transport companies (ABC and co) which fares are unlikely to be affordable to these boys – are so tightly packed that contacts are natural to happen. If he collapses at his abode in Langbasa, his ever sympathetic Nigerian neighbours would have carried him on their shoulders to the hospital, or supported him with their hands inside Keke Marwa on the way to the hospital. If he doesn’t resort to self-medication or visit Iya Wale the Home Nurse, he would have, at best, shown up in General Hospital – a marketplace! The degree of contact (and spread) is better imagined. 

Mr. Patrick Sawyer belonged in the elite class as a diplomat, a well-educated man with American citizenship. He came through the airport. He showed up in a high-end private hospital. 

I don’t want to imagine the levels of contact and contract by now if it came through the cross-border boys through Seme, Idi – Iroko and other “paths” that connect Nigeria to other West African States. While not advocating for closure of borders, I think this is still an area we need to watch closely. 

Suraj Oyewale