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| Would you buy Suya meat with the preesent Ebola situation? |
Incredibly,some Suya meat sellers operating in major Suya point in the Agege Market,Lagos have "never
heard of Ebola disease"! I find that so hard to believe but i am not surprised.You would have thought the Government would have taken steps with all local governments to spread this news and awareness message,and if people like Suya sellers are not even clued up to what's going on,then what the hell have the Local government officials been up to?This is a major market for pete's sake and yet not everyone there is aware.If this is happening in Lagos,then what hope do they have in other rural towns and states?
I'm aware Lagos is a big place,but it's been almost 2 weeks now,by now they should have found a way to make sure everyone is informed,how many Radio announcements have there been?How many billboard campaigns?Apart from talking about it on the news,how many Tv campaigns have there been?How many vans driving round and announcing the danger in local languages have been implemented?There is so much they can do and should be doing but they would rather put that money in their pocket!As far as they are concerned their families can't contract Ebola and that's the most important thing!
Punch reports:
In spite of the widespread fear generated by the dreaded Ebola virus in Lagos, vendors of the popular roadside roasted meat, suya, in the city have said that they did not know of the existence of the disease.
The vendors, who operate at a major suya point in the Agege market, said that they were not aware of the Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who died in Lagos from the Ebola virus.
The Ebola virus, an almost instant killer, is currently ravaging the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and it is said to have killed hundreds of people.
It spreads through bodily fluids and consumption of contaminated bats, monkeys and bushmeat. There have been fears that the virus might also be in suya.
The suya vendors, who spoke to our correspondent, said that they had not received any sensitisation on the dreaded disease.
One of them who identified himself as Ahmed said he had never heard anything called Ebola.
He noted that he was unaware of the outbreak in West Africa, saying, “I have been selling my suya here and I have never heard of it (Ebola)”.
Another suya vendor, who simply identified himself as Ibrahim also said he had not heard of the virus and wondered how it could be related to suya.
“I am only selling suya. Ebola I don’t know. How does it concern my suya. Nobody, not government or private, has come to tell us of it,” he said.
When asked whether the patronage of his product had suffered any decilne, he said nothing had changed and that the people were still patronising him as usual.
But another suya vendor, who did not want his name in print, said he had noticed a reduction in the patronage of his wares.
He also noted that he was not aware that the virus was present in the country.