between members of the Obafemi Awolowo University community and a
large colony of bats on campus.
Before a Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, practically imported the
Ebola Virus Disease into Nigeria, not many Nigerians really liked
bats. Many associated the winged nocturnal mouse-like animals with bad
omens and so they rarely attracted positive commentaries.
But that was not the perception at the Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Osun State. Hitherto at the university, bats were creatures
that many students and members of staff found very fascinating. No
wonder, they classified them as one of the prides and wonders of the
52-year-old university. Almost every big tree on campus is a home to
these mammals.
But with the EVD scare that hit the country last July, that perception
has changed. Nowadays, only a few members of the varsity community are
comfortable with the bats.
Many people now see the creatures as enemies. They see the rich bat
protectorate as a leprous colony with only a few people summoning
courage to pass under the big trees that host them.
Of course, their fears are justifiable. Many believe bats, monkeys and
some other undomesticated animals have links with the spread of the
dreaded EVD. The disease, with no known cure so far, has killed no
fewer than 1,500 of the 2,500 infected persons in Liberia, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Congo. In Nigeria particularly, Ebola has
consumed the lives of no fewer than six persons in less than two
months.
Thus, seeing bats fly in their thousands has now become a source of
concern in OAU. But some people insist there is no cause for alarm.
Some of such people who spoke to our correspondent said the bats were
harmless. According to them, there is no reason to fear them because
they have been around for many years. In fact, they say the animals
still deserve respect, love and good neighbourliness.
For a student, Sola Mosobalaje, the presence of the animals is no
longer strange to him, especially as they are almost in every nook and
cranny of the university.
He said, "Initially, as a fresh student in the university, I was
scared of them because of their huge population. Today, however, that
is no longer the situation. I am no longer scared. I have been here
for long and nothing has happened to anyone.
"We know when they fly and when they do not. That we now no longer
pass under the trees that quarter them is merely because we want to be
careful. It is not because of the fears many other Nigerians associate
with animals due to the Ebola outbreak. So what we do now is to take
alternative routes."
Another student, Sanmi Aina, who resides off campus, said the bats
were a common sight in the city. Aina noted that if they were as
dangerous as now feard,, no individual would be alive in the ancient
Yoruba city.
He said, "If anything will happen, it will likely start from town and
not on campus. They will have to send all the residents of Ile-Ife
away and everyone would have been dead by now if bats automatically
transmitted Ebola virus. But I can assure you, there is no tension
here. We are taking our time as literate people."
The Head of Zoology Department in the university, Prof. Sylvester
Ogbogu, also assuaged the fear of many, saying the school was safe, in
spite of the huge bat population.
Ogbogu, a professor of Aquatic Entomology, also dismissed the call for
the cutting down of the trees over what he described as "unconfirmed
information" that bats spread EVD.
He said, "One thing with the transmission of diseases between animal
and man is that it only occurs when the disease is endemic. Such is
the case with river blindness. River blindness is associated with
certain insects. Those insects that transfer the river blindness
pathogens are dominant in the middle belt area of the country. It is
because the pathogens and the insects are there that we have high
incidence of river blindness in that region.
"If Ebola virus goes endemic in Nigeria, it is possible for the fruit
bats we have on campus to have it. But we have been staying with these
bats and people have been hunting them to feed animals and we have not
recorded any case of Ebola."
The don, who said the bat settlement on campus predated the
establishment of the university, warned against 'hasty
generalisation'.
PUNCH
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