Culture: Ebola's impact on Greetings in Nigeria by Erika Amoako-Agyei

The governors of Nigeria's 36 states have started greeting one another with clenched fist salutes - not out of revolutionary fervor, but to avoid transmitting the deadly Ebola virus.

Ever since the health authorities began a sensitization program on the Ebola virus, Nigerians have been discouraged from shaking hands to avoid infection. The advisory has led to several Nigerians pointedly avoiding physical contact with their friends and associates.

President Goodluck Jonathan summoned the governors and regional health commissioners to an emergency meeting in the capital, Abuja, to discuss how to stop the spread of Ebola, and the governors "opted to greet one another with clenched fists", a local newspaper reports, quoting the official News Agency of Nigeria.

The health ministry's Ebola awareness program is discouraging Nigerians from shaking hands to avoid further infection, and the clenched fist is the latest in a series of changes people are making to avoid physical contact. Members of Parliament (MPs) stopped shaking hands earlier this week, and even the Catholic Church has reviewed its 'Sign of Peace' gesture of shaking hands with your neighbor during Mass.

Three people have died of Ebola in Nigeria since it arrived in late July, and 10 more have been diagnosed with the disease. Many Nigerians who had initial contact with carriers have been quarantined, and several others are under observation. At their meeting with the president, the governors agreed to set up seven laboratories nationwide to test for Ebola, and upheld a decision to ban the movement of corpses from state to state without a waiver from the federal ministry of health and proper safeguards.

Scientists at Aberystwyth University in Wales have established that shaking hands is one of the most effective ways of passing on bacteria, and recommend 'fist-bumping' as a much less risky way of greeting if people don't want to avoid physical contact altogether.

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Follow Erika Amoako-Agyei: Erika Amoako-Agyei is an intercultural business consultant with regional expertise on the sub-region of Africa. She works with global managers, students and companies expanding into Africa.

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