Nigeria: Rat poison sales skyrocket after Lassa Fever outbreak

Businessmen in Nigeria’s Kano city are making huge profits from the sale of rat poison as Lassa Fever ravages on.

The use megaphones by market vendors and hawkers have become commonplace in the city of Kano in northern Nigeria.

This is to announce the sale of rat poison, which is currently booming in this part of the country.

Businessmen are making huge profits out of the disease, especially when the Lassa fever outbreak has ravaged most parts of the region.

The outbreak was first announced in the country at the beginning of the month and businessmen like Awwalu Aminu have taken advantage of the situation.

“We were making profits of 400 or 500 naira daily but now we make 2,000, 3,000 and even 4,000 naira. We go out into the streets and come back satisfied,” he said.

Abubakar Ja’afar, also another vendor says he has never seen sales so high in his 20 years in the trade.

“We used to have five to 10 clients coming to buy daily but now we have more than 30 people coming daily. Everyone comes looking for rat poison as a result of this outbreak of Lassa disease,” he said.

At least 76 people have lost their lives to the disease and only last week 212 suspected cases were recorded.

Lassa fever is endemic in the rodent population in parts of West Africa.