Rats Run Riot Amid Lassa Fever Fears

CYRIACUS IZUEKWE

 

In recent times, rats had been running riot in different neighbourhoods across Lagos State amid fears of Lassa fever. Residents had applied different approaches aimed at checking the outbreak of the disease got from activities of the rats and rats in their quest for survival had become more destructive in various homes.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that there had been more stories of rats destroying household items and valuables in recent times. In their bid to get food, rats have destroyed books, packed clothes, cupboards and vital documents.

That was the experience by a 34-year old lady, Miss Jane Chikelu, who was rendered certificate less and almost jobless over the disturbing activities of rats in her house. The incident happened at Isolo Road in Mushin but Jane has now relocated to Ikotun area of Lagos after the ugly experience.

Miss Jane had graduated from a popular university in Nigeria and came to Lagos after her NYSC to search for job as a Laboratory  Assistant.  She said that she had all her credentials in her bag and kept the bag inside the room apartment allocated to her by her brother. She narrated that she had been going out and written applications for employment until recently when she was invited for an interview on Lagos Island with her papers.

She said that when she brought out her bag, she noticed that the bag was torn from the side. She quickly opened the file where she kept her certificates and was shocked at what she saw. Jane discovered that rats had eaten both her NYSC discharge certificate and B.Sc degree certificate. Seeing her certificates in shreds, she did not know how to explain what had happened and so she canceled going for the job interview.

Another victim, Franklin Chibuzor said that all  his efforts and hard work were rendered useless by rats which destroyed all his credentials after he graduated. He studied Business Administration and had kept his certificate in a box. He said that when he opened his box to check for something, he initially thought that it was somebody that stole his certificate. But checking carefully, he noticed a hole beside the box from where the rats had entered and tore his certificate into pieces. Franklin said that he was shocked and wondered how the rats knew that they were important documents and ate them. He said that it was due to the sad incident that he forgot about the idea of looking for job and got engaged in trading.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that some of the residents decried the increase and defiant posture of rats in the State.
They said that apart from invasion of homes, they now moved freely on the streets in search of food. And when they cannot find any, they find their ways into homes and destroy valuables in their bid to survive.
A resident, one Mrs. Joy Uwakwe, described rats in the state as witches because of the way they operated in various homes. She said that before now rats usually ran away on sighting or sensing human movement but that it was no longer the case. She said it seemed that rats now possessed sense organs like normal human beings going by the way of their menace in homes. Mrs. Uwakwe narrated how she had also lost her certificate to rats after spending so many years in the high institutions.

She said that she had also noticed that rodents had developed thick skin to poisons and traps and had developed more ways to escape. She however blamed their actions on their desire to search for food leftovers which were now scarcely seen in various homes due to the economic situation in the country.

She concluded that it appeared that there was no solution in sight. She is appealing to government at different levels to help reduce the population of rats through fumigation like they used to do in the past. The producers of rats poisons were also advised to research and come up with new formulas as it appeared that the ones in the market were no longer effective in order to reduce the havoc in various homes.