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In an alternate universe free from the claws of capitalism, I’d be a traveller. This would mean freedom from sapa and to achieve this, I plan to become the President of Nigeria because it looks like being a tourist is part of the job description. When President Bubu first got into office in 2015, he made many head-turning promises that he has found challenging to fulfil. One of these promises was to end medical tourism and as we all know, he failed.
As with the common phrase, “All men do is lie,” Bubu was no different. He too dey lie. Bubu has spent more than half a year going abroad at different points for medical treatments; even more, he’s currently in London for a dentist appointment.
During the 2023 general elections, many Nigerians hoped to finally get a president that wouldn’t ghost us for medical excursions overseas, but it looks like there’s something about the Aso Villa that turns you into an Ajala the traveller—globe trotting often for medical purposes.
On March 21, 2023, the press learned about the news that Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu, was travelling to Europe for medical care. However, Tinubu’s campaign and media aides debunked the rumours, claiming he went to rest from the election activities, which, to be fair, is understandable. Tinubu finally returned to Nigeria on April 24, and barely three weeks later, it’s in the news again that he has packed his bags to continue his exploration of Europe. The reason this time is that the journey abroad is a “working trip” to meet investors and prepare for the inauguration on May 29.
My issue in all of this isn’t about Tinubu’s possible interest in being a tourist but rather how his administration might be eerily similar to Buhari’s. Nigerians already have enough PTSD from Buhari ghosting the country for months, without us hearing from the Presidency, and the last thing we want is for affliction rising the second time..
What else happened this week?
Two Dead After Wedding Ceremony in Kano
On May 11, news broke that two people were confirmed dead and eight were hospitalised after drinking tea at a wedding ceremony in Sheka, Kumbotso Local Government Area, Kano State.
The tea is being reported to have been prepared with a local leaf called Zakami and a combination of other drugs. Thankfully, the hospitalised victims were effectively treated and discharged to go about their day-to-day activities.
The spokesperson of the Kano State police command, SP Abdullahi Haruna, says that although no formal report was made to the police station, an inquiry will be made into the accident.
Video of the week
“I will switch to Ogogoro”
“I will never stop, it’s an inevitable devil”
🤭🤭
With the FG set to implement a tax rate increase on alcoholic drinks, we visited a beer parlour to find out how Nigerians felt about this.
On May 22, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) will mark its 50th anniversary. Do you think it’s time for the programme to be scrapped?
Ehen one more thing…
Nigerians face several challenges every second of the day, from lack of stable electricity to traffic congestion, or “go slow,” as they call it. But have you ever wondered how the term “go slow” came to represent traffic congestion? We have the answer here.
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The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and often international too. Every week, we talk about the experience of Nigerians who have settled in other parts of the world. Their relationship with where they currently are, the journey getting to that point, and where they hope to go from there.
This week’s abroad life subject is an 18-year-old student who’s experiencing Hungary while trying to figure out what to do with his life. He talks about his struggles with solitude, cultural differences and an educational system he was ill-equipped for.
When did you decide to move abroad?
It wasn’t up to me per se. My parents wanted me to study abroad, so it was just natural.
What’s your travelling history like?
Before I came to Hungary, I’d only been to two countries — the Benin Republic and Ghana.
How did the process of moving to Hungary go?
I was in SS3, in 2020, when my dad came home one day and gave me an admission letter to study software engineering, from a school in Canada. It turned out he’d applied to one of those schools in Canada that didn’t require the usual exams. I told him I wasn’t doing it.
LMAO. How did you guys get to that point?
It was in early 2020. I couldn’t write WAEC because of the pandemic. But I’d written GCE the previous year and passed. So he’d done the entire application process himself. Hence, the admission letter.
Classic African parents
I didn’t want to study software engineering because I wasn’t interested in anything related to computers. I told him I wanted to study biomedical engineering, and he said he knew this school in Russia that was very good for courses like that. In my head, I thought, “From Canada to Russia? Jesu”. But I was like, “Let’s have it”.
LMAO. How did that go?
Omo. We started applying to the school and there was nothing they didn’t ask for. They asked for my WAEC certificate, my school results and even my JAMB score. I’d written JAMB by then, so I just sent everything over.
Mad. You weren’t even thinking about Nigerian universities?
Most of my relatives studied abroad. So it was only natural for us to do the same thing. I actually applied to the University of Ibadan. But because we didn’t know anything about how Nigerian universities worked, we missed the deadline for the submission of WAEC results. So I changed my institution of choice to the University of Jos. I was offered admission a day before I left for Hungary.
Okay, let’s roll it back a bit. How did the Russian plan go?
I was asked to write a math and physics exam. It was an online test because of the pandemic. That was the hardest exam I’d ever written in my life. I was like, “They didn’t teach us all this one o”. It was so strange. I knew I’d flunk it, and I did. So they told me I’d spend my first year doing something called “foundation”.
It was meant to help me bridge the gap between what I’d been taught in Nigeria and what I actually needed to know. And it was a lot. What was even more interesting was the first semester would be a language immersion programme. COVID was still on so I was going to school online. I spent the first semester learning the Russian language. It was hell.
How so?
I had Russian classes from 5 a.m. till 6 p.m. every day for three months. When the second semester eventually started, I started taking math and physics classes, and they were teaching us in Russian. I just knew I couldn’t do it because I literally just started learning the language. I told my parents I’ll just end up failing school and I didn’t want to study biomedical engineering anymore. This was in February 2021.
We started looking for schools in different parts of the world. There was no country I didn’t research for schools. I even found one in South Africa and applied to it, but I forgot to upload my results. In April, my mom remembered that we have a relative who was a student in Hungary. She asked the person to link us up with their agent, and that’s how we started making plans for Hungary.
What was the application process like?
It was just me sending my personal and academic documents over to the agent. I was offered admission to the same school my relative was in and I was going to be studying physics. I got invited for the visa interview at the Hungarian embassy in Abuja. They asked me Hungarian current affairs questions. I got my visa approved in August 2021 and moved a week later.
Expectation vs Reality: Hungary edition
I honestly wasn’t expecting much because I just wanted to get to school and start sha. But I expected some of that European ambience. The architecture and all that. But it’s very mid. It’s probably the “middest” place I’ve ever seen. Everything about it is mid. The economy, the buildings, the roads, the social life, everything.
It’s even worse in my city. My school is in Debrecen, and the city is dead. Literally nothing happens there. No parties, no crime, nothing. I can’t even remember ever seeing the police. I don’t know where the police station is. Also, not even sure they have prisons at all. But on the other hand, the quiet helps me focus. Coming from Nigeria where there’s so much bustle, the quietude is what I really need for school.
What culture shocks did you experience?
Everyone here smokes like they’re drinking water. Whether you’re a man or woman, young or old, and even pregnant, or carrying a toddler. It was wild for me at first. Another thing is this liquor they have. It’s called Pálinka. It looks and smells like diesel. I find it disgusting, but they drink so much of it, and it doesn’t even get them drunk.
The last thing would be the educational system. When I got my admission, I was told I didn’t need to do a foundation year. It was odd because most Nigerian students have to do a foundation year to bridge the gap in our terrible curriculum.
I wanted to do a foundation year, seeing how I’d flunked my Russian test. But I was also glad I only had to spend three years instead of four. When I started, I saw shege.
What happened?
School here is really hard. I literally lost weight after my first semester exams. People lose their minds over how difficult it is. Also, even though they teach in English, there’s some communication bypass that just makes things weird.
One time, I had an oral exam, and the examiner asked a question in English that made no sense to me because of how the sentence was constructed. I kept asking him to clarify, but he was repeating the same thing. He eventually called someone else who understood what he meant and answered correctly. He said he’d have no choice but to fail me. I was happy because I hadn’t prepared well for it, so I now had more time to prepare and retake the exam another day.
In my second semester, I realised that physics really wasn’t for me. I had chosen it because it was the only subject that I enjoyed studying in school. But what I was doing here seemed very different and I wasn’t learning much. So I wrote a letter to the dean of my school, requesting permission to switch to Computer Engineering. In the end, I went back to what my dad had suggested. I just started studying it, and I’m looking forward to what it holds for me.
What’s your social life like in Debrecen?
It’s almost non-existent. I don’t make friends easily so I have a very small circle of Nigerians here. I also have one Hungarian friend, but that’s about it. As for going out, Hungary is a dead place. I wasn’t kidding at all. It can be 7:30 p.m. and the streets will be empty. Nothing goes on here, so I just stay in my room and chill.
Also, Debrecen is a really small city. It’s smaller than Gwarimpa Estate, the biggest estate in Abuja. I think that size influenced the population, which could be a reason why nothing ever happens there.
Do you see yourself staying back after school?
LMAO. No, please. I want to leave this dead place and go somewhere else. I don’t want to start my career in Nigeria sha. Affliction shall not rise again. Maybe when I’m much older and rich enough to start businesses, I’ll consider it. Even as an undergraduate, I don’t think I’m going back to Nigeria anytime soon.
LMAO. Why?
Because I like my freedom here. I can actually do what I want. I recently got piercings on both ears, and I know once my parents see me, I won’t get a return ticket to this place. So, no, thank you.
Hey there! My name is Sheriff, and I write Abroad Life at Zikoko. If you’re a Nigerian who lives or has lived abroad, I would love to talk to you about that experience and feature you on Abroad Life. All you need to do is fill out this short form, and I’ll be in contact.
Since that first case, monkeypox cases have been reported in at least 20 countries. In the European Union (EU) alone, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France and Germany have reported at least one case each. Italy, Israel, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland are other EU countries that have been affected. Outside of the EU, Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Arab Emirates have also confirmed monkeypox cases. No deaths have been reported.
What’s Nigeria’s business with this?
The first case reported in the UK on May 7th was of a person who had recently travelled from Nigeria where they’re believed to have been infected. And even though the next two cases reported in the UK one week later had nothing to do with that first case, Nigeria has been cast as a central figure in the outbreak.
On May 27th 2022, Russian official, Igor Kirillov, accused the US of using biolabs in Nigeria to spread the virus across the world. The chief of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) to investigate the US-funded labs located in Abuja, Lagos and Zaria. This allegation is not being taken seriously by WHO, but the organisation has advised health authorities in Europe and the Americas to be on the alert for recent travellers from Nigeria where the virus is regularly found.
History of monkeypox in Nigeria
Monkeypox was first identified in humans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970, according to the WHO. Since then, the virus has been endemic in almost a dozen African countries, including Nigeria.
Nigeria’s first large-scale monkeypox outbreak didn’t happen until 2017 when the virus spread to over a dozen states and caused nationwide panic. The country has confirmed a total of 247 cases since then. This is the breakdown by year:
2017 — 88 cases
2018 — 49 cases
2019 — 47 cases
2020 — 8 cases
2021 — 34 cases
2022 (Jan – May) — 21 cases
Nine monkeypox deaths have been confirmed since 2017.
States affected by monkeypox
Since 2017, monkeypox cases have been confirmed in 22 states: Rivers (53), Bayelsa (45), Lagos (34), Delta (31), Cross River (16), Edo (10), Imo (9), Akwa Ibom (7), Oyo (6), FCT (8), Enugu (4), Abia (3), Plateau (3), Adamawa (5), Nasarawa (2), Benue (2), Anambra (2), Ekiti (2), Kano (2), Ebonyi (1), Niger (1) and Ogun (1).
Monkeypox deaths have been recorded in six states since 2017: Lagos (3), Edo (2), Imo (1), Cross River (1), FCT (1) and Rivers (1).
Despite the ongoing outbreak in Europe, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has maintained that there’s no evidence of any new or unusual transmission of the virus in Nigeria.
There have been 66 suspected monkeypox cases in Nigeria between January and May 2022, but only 21 of them have been confirmed, with one death recorded. The affected states are Adamawa (5), Lagos (4), Bayelsa (2), Delta (2), Cross River (2), FCT (2), Kano (2), Imo (1) and Rivers (1).
The NCDC is confident that there’s no significant threat to life or the community that can result in severe disease or a high case fatality rate.
How does monkeypox spread?
The monkeypox virus can spread from infected animals like monkeys, squirrels and rodents, to humans, usually through direct contact with body fluids, blood or the skin or lesions. Transmission can also happen through a bite, scratch, poor handling of, or consuming inadequately cooked or other products of infected bushmeat.
Monkeypox can also spread from human to human through contact with respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.
What are the symptoms of monkeypox?
The symptoms of monkeypox include sudden fever, headache, body pain, weakness, sore throat, and enlargement of glands (lymph nodes) in the neck and under the jaw. These can be followed by the appearance of a rash on the face, palms, soles of the feet, genitals and other parts of the body.
The monkeypox fever can escalate the rash which tends to spread across the body of an infected person with the face and palms being the most affected. The rash can also occur in and around the genitals, which is why contact during sex is also a mode of transmission.
The illness caused by monkeypox usually lasts between two to four weeks.
How to protect yourself from monkeypox
There are many tips on how to protect yourself from monkeypox infection, but here are the highlights from the NCDC:
1. Avoid contact with host animals like monkeys, gorillas, squirrels and rodents, especially in areas where infections have been confirmed.
2. Avoid unnecessary physical contact with infected patients.
3. Practice frequent handwashing with soap and water especially after caring for, or visiting sick people.
4. Ensure all animal food products are properly cooked before eating.
5. Report all cases with the associated symptoms to the nearest health facility.
