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February 09, 2006
Bird flu grips Nigeria press
As Nigeria is confirmed to have the first African cases of bird flu amongst poultry, newspapers across the country focus on the plight of local farmers and the efforts to halt the spread of the virus.
Many reports describe the anxious mood of people in the affected areas of Kaduna and Kano. "The highly dreaded bird flu" hit the country "like a whirlwind", says This Day.
A Kaduna villager tells The Guardian that people are worried the disease may "affect them through the air they breathe", while The Vanguard warns that the virus causes serious illness in humans and "spreads easily from person to person".
A full-colour banner on the web site of The Sun - Nigeria's self-styled "King of the Tabloids" - reads "DANGER, Bird flu in Nigeria" and warns that "Eating chicken may lead to death". The headline below the banner reads "Panic in Kaduna, Kano".
Half-price birds
The Daily Champion in Lagos warns that farmers who fear their birds will be culled are selling them for half the normal price in local markets. The Guardian says it has also observed farmers selling livestock "at give-away prices".
Abuja's The Daily Trust maintains some of the birds being sold "are from farms where birds have been dying". The paper interviews Ismail Musa in Kano market sitting next to baskets full of birds for sale: "I lost ten birds", he says, "and I cannot afford to lose more."
The Daily Champion reports that Kano farmers are holding an emergency meeting on how to combat the spread of the disease, with Nigeria's National Veterinary Institute promising a cooperative effort rather than "a backyard operation".
Warning leaflets from the Institute tell people to wear protective gear when killing the affected birds, The Punch reports. However, the Daily Trust says farmhands have continued culling birds "without protective gloves".
'Political flu'
A lighter touch is provided by a cartoon in the New Age. A couple are watching TV where the Nigerian football team is being beaten 1-0 in the African Cup of Nations by the Ivory Coast. "See the Eagles playing like chickens?" laments the woman. "They must have caught the bird flu," replies the man.
The New Age is the only paper so far to devote an editorial to the outbreak.
It says, however, that the immediate concern of the ordinary African is not bird flu or even HIV/Aids. "His headache is political flu, which is a disease characterized by societal corruption, economic waste and administrative and governmental oppression."
And, the paper remarks, for this disease "no cure has been developed".
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaus abroad.
Posted by Publisher at February 9, 2006 04:20 PM
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