Ebola spoils business for sex workers, sanitisers boom

 – Bushmeat hit –

Sex workers aren’t the only ones in the informal economy — in which an estimated three-quarters of Nigerians work — who are feeling the effects of Ebola. Three people have died of the disease in Lagos, and more are expected.

Sellers of bushmeat, a popular delicacy in Nigeria and elsewhere in the region, also complain of fewer customers.

The hunters, who catch animals such as antelope, porcupine and bush rats, fear for their livelihoods if the trend continues.

Fruit bats and monkeys are both thought to transmit the virus.

Guinea, which with Sierra Leone and Liberia has had more than 1,000 deaths from Ebola since the start of the year, banned the consumption of bats to try to control the spread to humans.

Nigeria has issued similar warnings about bushmeat but not outlawed the practice.

Vivian Lateef Koshefobamu has been in the bushmeat business nearly 30 years. But the 45-year-old’s stall stands alone and even then only displays a few pieces of roasted meat.

“The customers have all run away for fear of Ebola,” she told AFP. “They are scared. Most of the bushmeat sellers are also not coming to sell for the same reason. But I’m not afraid.”

The health advice was “mere propaganda to spoil our business”, she added.

 – Everyone a suspect –

Elsewhere in megacity Lagos, home to more than 21 million, everyone from market traders and undertakers, bank workers to shop assistants openly discusses their fears and how they’ve changed their behaviour.

At the Oke Arin and Balogun markets in central Lagos, some traders wear gloves and protective masks and swear that trade is slack — although the teeming crowds suggest otherwise.

In banks, cashiers and other staff dealing with banknotes and the public do the same.