By Precious Onwumelu
Remember 2014? Airports spraying, buckets of water and bleach at every gate, don’t touch, don’t greet; fear was in the air.
Then we beat it, not with magic but with contact tracing and with Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh who refused to let Patrick Sawyer walk out, with public announcements in pidgin and with nurses who showed up.
Aproko Mataz brings this up because we forget our wins. When Nigeria works, it works very well.
The lesson from Ebola: early response, community trust, and clear communication. No hiding figures. No politics. Just public health. If we did it then, we can do it for Lassa fever, for cholera, for the next thing. We don’t need to wait for WHO to land before we act.
Let’s not wait for panic to be competent. The blueprint is already in our history books.
