…Urge govt to rise to its responsibility
For many years, many studies carried out by some international bodies claimed that Nigerians were among the happiest people in the world despite widespread poverty, political strife and various extraneous challenges besetting them.
However, in March Nigeria’s rating plummeted from its 78th position in the world and 2nd in Africa in the 2015 happiness ranking to 103 position in the world, and 6th in Africa in the in March 2016. About 157 countries were assessed.
It appears however, that many citizens may have begun to respond negatively to the reality of the harsh economic and socio-political situations currently prevailing in the country, and happiness is eluding them.
This is evident in the level of frustration, stress and other forms of mental disorders plaguing the lives of many a citizen.
In the recent time, Nigerian media have been awash with rising incidences of suicide and other extreme manifestation of hopelessness by a number of people.
A few days ago, a 35-year-old Allwell Orji, a medical doctor, jumped into the Lagos Lagoon on the Third Mainland Bridge (TMB). The incident once again brought the rising cases of suicide to the front burner, with experts discussing on a daily basis, the larger consequences on Nigeria as a country.
The late Orji reportedly asked the driver of his Nissan SUV to stop on TMB, at the Apongbon area of Lagos, he then opened the door of the vehicle and jumped to his death into the lagoon.
Barely a week after the incident, the Lagos State Police Command told the perplexed Lagosians that a woman, Taiwo Momoh, was rescued as she tried to take a plunge into the same Lagoon and almost at the same point Orji took his life. Another woman, Abigail Ogunyinka, was also reportedly rescued by fishermen at the Ebute-Ero end of the Lagos lagoon. She claimed she wanted to end her life because she was indebted to a microfinance bank to the tune of N150, 000 (One hundred and fifty thousand naira only).
According to Fatai Owoseni, Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, Taiwo Momoh was in a taxi heading towards Oworonshoki on the TMB when she told the taxi driver to stop on the bridge and the woman was about to jump into the water when a police patrol team on a routine patrol on the TMB sighted her and rushed to save her.
He explained that after interacting with the woman, it was found that she had been depressed as a result of a huge debt.
“Right now, the woman is still in trauma. She is still insisting that she wants to end her life. Suicide is an offence under the law but we will try to talk the woman out of committing suicide. She would be taken through a post-trauma programme to restore her hope in life. The police would do a medical evaluation on her to ascertain her current condition. The rate at which people commit suicide in the country is worrisome,” he laments.
A 38-year-old petty trader, Lovina Odo, in Anambra State, was also said to have committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope tied to a ceiling fan at No. 1, Ukpaka lane, Umusiome village, Nkpor-agu near Onitsha in Anambra. Reports indicated that she may have taken her life as a result of childlessness, as she was yet to have an issue eight years after marriage.
Apagun Oluwole Olumide, an Abeokuta high chief, sometime last year reportedly committed suicide, after returning from a visit to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) office. He allegedly plunged into, and drowned in the artificial lake of his Rock Beach Golf Resort after sending his driver on an errand.
It also trended on social media last year of how Olubunmi Olademo, a husband of a professor of religious studies at the University of Ilorin, tied a rope to the rafter of an uncompleted building and hung himself thereon after he requested some cash from his wife but didn’t get as she allegedly refused. Suicides have become a daily occurrence across the country.
Okonkwo Cyprain, an Abuja-based Psychiatrist, told BDSUNDAY that depression cases have risen in Abuja and Delta State, being places where the medical organisation he works with has facility.
Asked to give reason behind the rise in depression, he explained that current economic hardship is a major motivation for people who can no longer cope to want to end their life.
Aniebo Nwamu, another psychiatrist, explained in an interview with BDSUNDAY that it takes a mental illness which could have been aided by some sort of financial difficulty for someone to consider taking his or her own life.
“80 percent of those who live below the poverty line in this country have become nervous wrecks. Hardship could drive one into a mental home: no food, no good health, no sleep; always thinking of what to do to survive. Frustration has made many perpetually drunk or hemp addicts. At times, they become desperate. Is it for fun that a woman would swallow 70 wraps of cocaine and travel to Europe?
“Due to unemployment, many Nigerians are doing dangerous jobs and yet underpaid. People that are frequently subjected to deprivation and frustration are candidates for psychiatric hospitals. Unfortunately, Nigeria has little space for psychiatrists and psychologists. Mercifully, the job of psychologists has been taken over by religious houses. It’s only when a mental case becomes irreversible that family members chain the victim and seeks psychiatric doctors,” he says.
He advised that leaders in Nigeria, who control the resources of the nation, should give their compatriots hope, or else they (leaders) will continue to live in fear with suicidal neighbours.
“We know how our lawmakers responded to a bomb scare in the National Assembly last year, yet they have made a law to increase their allowances beyond imagination. A few civil servants can now conspire to share N34billion. Some ex-governors are now richer than their states. People set up banks with an intention to steal depositors’ funds. And even when the thieves and robbers are caught, they are not punished. All these are acts of injustice that fuel suicidal tendencies. The oppressors should choose between letting others live and facing the wrath of the oppressed,” he says.
Paul Ewete of Saint Paul’s Physiotherapy Clinics, Lagos, explained that while alcoholism, self-medication, addiction and perhaps overcrowded nature of some Nigerian cities like Lagos could contribute to depression, the current rise in Nigeria and its suicidal consequences is as a result of the biting economic hardship facing Nigerians.
“Yes, depression is on the increase in Nigeria. I receive calls every now and then about depression cases; some are as a result of loss of livelihood while others are purely spiritual which can only be handled my anointed Men of God.
“People are jobless and hungry; many parents are having sweat time providing for their respective families; several parents borrowed money to do business but the business has collapsed as a result of failing economy and such parents are now indebted; jobless youths are now addicted to hard substance as means of whiling away time; and so, the depression in the land is at all time high,” he told BDSUNDAY.
He noted that even if overcrowded cities can impact negatively on the minds of dwellers, those economically-able can survive the city noise and pollution; but penury and
over-crowdedness are not the best pals.
“There are depressions we simply revert to prayer houses for solutions; those ones are beyond medical solutions. Let us not deny it: spirituality that comes from Jesus is real; it heals and gives hope to the hopeless. Attempting to treat a spiritually-induced mental ailment with scientific solution is a waste of time. Even addiction induced by a spirit can only be remedied permanently by spiritual deliverance. Patients who are addicted sincerely want to be free but greater forces kept them addicted. So, this is the time for the Church to step in by giving hope to the hopeless and by delivering the oppressed,” he said.
In recent press conference on the 2017 International Conference for Ministers and Leaders of the church, Reverend Felix Meduoye, the General Overseer, Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, said churches and the citizenry have roles to play in curbing suicide and other social vices in the country.
“Job losses, kidnapping and other negative events have continued to be major headlines in the media. The present economic, social and security situation in the country call for concern.
“We believe the governments, churches and citizens have roles to play in addressing the menace and restoring the right order”, calling on Nigerians to embrace Christ and be righteous in their day-to-day activities.
“Nigerians should always have the interest of the country in mind and speak the truth at all times. I want us to have hope in the country; let us make it our responsibility to pray for Nigeria.Let us not hesitate to speak up when things are going wrong.Let us have faith in our country; we don’t have another country,’’ he said.
Does this send a message to government?
Some observers who spoke with BDSUNDAY said the rising incidence of suicide and other vices that have direct link with deprivation and abject poverty must be blamed on government that has failed in its responsibility to take care of its citizens.
A school proprietor, who asked not to be named, wondered if the government of the day is in any way perturbed by the sad developments in the country. Although he noted that suicide cases have always occurred in Nigeria, he however, observed the rate at which they occur nowadays was indicative of a failed system that is negatively impacting on mental and social health of citizens.
“I think it is a huge indictment on government, particularly the present government that promised change but appears to be even worse than administrations before it. In the last one year, things have gone so bad that life itself has become meaningless to many people. Government policies are not friendly. Many Nigerians are being pushed to the brink. What would make a man or woman to think of suicide, if not a feeling of hopelessness? As I speak with you now, there are families that both husband and wife lost their jobs in the last one year. For them, there is no more income, yet bills are mounting- house rent, feeding, medicals, children school fees, name it- I tell you, if not by divine intervention, we would be seeing corpses litter everywhere on a daily basis, of those who decided to take their lives, just to end the suffering here,” he said.
Role of religious centres
Some observers say that some mental health problems have spiritual links. According to them, in Africa as in many other continents, it is believed that the spiritual controls the physical.
A cleric, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “There are lots of challenges Nigerians are going through that are purely spiritual. Some are victims of bad and wicked people whereas some others invited the problem to themselves. There are many cases that have no solution in medical science but can be solved through spiritual means. That is why I urge religious leaders to do more than they have been doing to spiritually minister to the needs of their members through counseling, prayers, etc. It is unfortunate that many people are also falling into the hands of dupes who hide under the cover of religion to rip people off, thereby creating more problems for people looking for a refuge.
