Snakes, frogs, other reptiles packaged as gifts for lepers

Minna—The lives of people with leprosy in Niger State are daily being exposed to further danger as the rich in the society now throw at them on the highway frogs and other dangerous reptiles packaged as gifts.

The leprosy patients had had to take themselves to the highway to beg for alms for survival due to abandonment by governments at all levels.

Operation Manager of  Leprosy Mission Nigeria,  Dr. Pius Ogbu Sunday, told journalists during a training for media practitioners on Reducing Leprosy Related Stigma and Discrimination that snakes, frogs and other dangerous reptiles were being packaged in Bagco bags as gifts to people affected with leprosy on the highways where they begged.

He said:  “These people that have virtually turned beggars on the highways in a desperate move to survive.

‘’ Eventually, they have had their problems compounded by being given these dangerous gifts and LMN continues to wonder what these “good Samaritans” are up to.

‘’Because of these frequent sad developments, these afflicted leprosy patients are now becoming more agitated and becoming scared when approached to be given gifts, they have no alternative than to collect such gifts for survival but they are becoming more careful while receiving such gifts.

‘’What they do now is that after collecting any gift wrapped in Bagco bags or  any other container, such containers are kept at a distance.

‘’They watch the container from far for a couple of hours and after being convinced of the safety, such bags are picked”

He noted that people afflicted with leprosy had been living a pathetic life in the country in the past years, lamenting that all the tiers of government in the country had paid little or no attention to their plight.

Dr Sunday noted that specialised hospitals built for them had become dilapidated, adding that they had to hit the highways begging to survive.