By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

At the last count, no fewer than seven Nigerians have paid the supreme price. The Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, which has been wreaking havoc in some West Africa countries, finally crept into Nigeria like a thief in the night and left behind devastating narratives.

It came as a blitz, stunning Lagos for a start and searing through Enugu and Port Harcourt like a storm. In a space of three weeks, the monstrous disorder government thinking in ways it had never envisaged. Like martyrs, many rose to the occasion when it mattered most to save lives but ended up paying dearly with theirs.

However, of note is the fact that the patriotism which propelled them to rise to the challenge of trying to salvage the EVD-infected persons from within and outside Nigeria, remains a lingering lesson for humanity. Nigeria and other African counties in particular need to reflect on the sacrifice of the Nigerian martyrs, whose painful loss to the virus painfully opened the eyes of their leaders to the catastrophe that was waiting to strike deep.

Nigeria, noted for taking many things for granted, never wavered for once when the heath crisis landed in the country through a Liberian, Dr. Patrick Sawyer, who  imported it into the nation’.

The fact of his entry into Nigeria and the heavy loss to the nation and its people are well documented.  A highly embarrassed President Goodluck Jonathan, who reflected on the index case, was so furious that he upbraided the late Liberian diplomat but could not do anything more to assuage his anger since the man has since passed on.

But in spite of the calamity that the EVD has visited on Nigeria and its people on one hand, it  has also unwittingly galvanized the nation to act in unison on a particular national issue irrespective of party, religious and tribal leanings.   Unlike other issues in Nigeria, which has not received the kind of attention which Nigerians feel they urgently need, President Goodluck Jonathan did not dither at all in responding promptly to the invasion so as to save the nation and its populace from mass deaths.

Although Nigerians did not quite appreciate the initial measures outlined by Jonathan including the release of N1.9 billion for the containment of the spread of the disease, it became clear to all that the EVD was not a joke by the time the stories of its spread began to hit the nation like a plague.

By the time the sum of N200 million was disburse to Lagos to establish isolations centres, decontaminate the various places said to have been visited by the index case and those who attended to him, it was clear that the N200 million given to Lagos and another handed over to Rivers State to manage the spread of the ailment, could hardly meet the needs of the affected states. But the largesse by the Federal Government at the time it was made available and the other life-saving measures announced by the administration, were most needed at the time they were unfolded.

Perhaps, if Jonathan had not approved the plan of action to contain the virus and if the nation had taken it for granted that the EVD, like a whispering wind, would come and go, the nation might have been plunged by now into a mourning mood that it had never witnessed since its inception.

One man, whose worth Nigerians had never known before now, is Prof Chukwu, Nigeria’s health minister, who, without doubt, has done wonderfully well to steer Nigeria off the radar of Ebola without sounding too important. Before now, Chukwu had never been known to have the courage and ingenuity to manage a national problem of that magnitude but the outbreak of the EVD seems to have brought out the best in him for Nigeria and indeed Africa.

Both President Jonathan and Chukwu are now being discussed in local and international health forums for proffering a completely hitherto unknown solutions to the EVD. What is actually shoring up Jonathan and Nigeria’s image in the fight against Ebola is that the nation did not make use of any known vaccine. Initially, Nigerian had wanted to fall back on Zmapp, a test drug developed in the United States of America, for the treatment of the cases indentified in the country but the U.S was really not forthcoming in making it available to Nigeria.

As it turned out, neither Zmapp nor any other validated drug was deployed by Nigeria in managing the many EVD cases but it nonetheless successfully improvised and ended the woes that came with its wake. As a result of the actions adopted by Nigeria, the World Health Organisation, WHO, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS and other world bodies have already declared Nigeria Ebola-free. In fact, the WHO in a statement in Abuja on Monday, openly declared that Nigeria and Senegal have successfully contained Ebola.

“I wish on behalf of the ECOWAS Commission and other community institutions to express our most sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Federal Government of Nigeria, the state governments and the health authorities for their commendable proactive responses and measures deployed for the containment of the EVD, not only in the country but also in the entire region.

“Under the principle of solidarity and collective responsibility, which drives our community integration, an attack or threat to any member state is an attack or threat to all our member states,” ECOWAS President, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, said in Abuja on Friday, while reviewing Nigeria’s leading role in combating the disease.

While admitting the current wave of EVD as the worst in the region’s history, Ouedraogo noted with delight the strong support and commitment by Nigeria to eliminate the scourge through an earlier donation of $3.5 million towards the Regional Solidarity Fund to combat the disease.

The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar 111, at the formal flag off of this year’s Hajj to Saudi Arabia, made reference to the effort by the Federal Government to contain the Ebola menace and commended the Presidency for rising fast to tackle the scourge.

“We want to specially commend President Goodluck Jonathan for the steps his administration has taken to ensure to contain the Ebola virus, which has convinced the Saudi authorities to admit Nigerian pilgrims to undertake the pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” the Oba, who is the leader of the Federal Government delegation, said at the ceremony in Dutse.

As painful as the loss of Nigeria’s celebrated doctors and other health workers to the EVD outbreak, the onslaught has nevertheless awaken Nigeria’s alertness to tackle emerging issues with the seriousness they  deserve irrespective of their religious, tribal or political connections. President Jonathan and Nigeria’s rating in the comity of nations is certainly likely going to soar as a result of his ingenuity in handling the EVD.

Perhaps, a lesson or two from the EVD management by Nigeria would go a long way in assisting Jonathan and his administration to route the rampaging insurgents in the North-East, subdue the malevolent and irritant kidnappers and armed robbers in the South-East and crush his daring but dangerous kinsmen in the South-South, who are siphoning our oil resources through the creeks and using them as their personal property with reckless abandon.