Follow Us on Google
Tessy Igomu
On Saturday, January 12, an unidentified middle-aged man was found hanging from a tree on Catholic Mission Road, opposite the Court of Appeal, Lagos Island.
The man, clad in native attire made of the Ankara fabric, was found hanging by a rope which looked like a braided long scarf, tied to a fruit tree
On Wednesday, January 2, Nigerians were greeted with the tragic news of a Lagos-based disc jockey (DJ), Seun Omogaji, popularly known as DJ Xgee. He had committed suicide by ingesting an insecticide known as Sniper.
The deceased, said to have posted a cryptic note on his Instagram handle, reportedly took his life following an unresolved marital issue with his wife.
On Wednesday, December 26, a 300-level student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Aisha Omolola, committed suicide in her apartment in Samaru, Zaria. She also reportedly drank a bottle of insecticide and left a suicide note stating the reason behind her action.
Early in 2018, a medical doctor, Allwell Orji, had jumped into the Lagos Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge. It took divers and the Lagos State emergency responders days to recover his body. His death was subsequently tagged a suicide.
Still in 2018, a young banker committed suicide by drinking insecticide in Ughelli, Delta State, after her husband allegedly brought home another woman. Rather than stomach the affront and perceived betrayal from her spouse, she decided to end her life painfully.
Also reported to have ingested a deadly insecticide in 2018 was an undergraduate of Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Aduba Daniel. It was discovered that the deceased had carry-overs in four courses and that might have prompted him to take his life.
Between the second half of 2017 and first half of 2018, Nigeria recorded at least 80 cases of suicide, one of which involved a 500-level student of Urban and Regional Planning, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, Osun State, and a students of Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, among others
In November 2015, a police officer identified as Corporal Agi, committed suicide in Lagos after failing to pass his promotional examination. The officer, attached to the Safer Highway Patrol, killed himself after missing an assessment examination that would have ensured his promotion to the rank of sergeant. His body was discovered in his car at the premises of the Police Training School (PTS), Ikeja, alongside empty cans of pesticide and some tablets.
Almost weekly, reports of suicides make headlines nationwide. Like a rampaging pandemic, it is stealthily spreading its virulent strain across the country. Several genial, promising individuals are taking a plunge into death of their own volition.
Suicide, the act of intentionally taking one’s life, has suddenly become an alarming phenomenon in Nigeria.
Despite being regarded a crime, many are not scared to take the painful path of suicide.
The earlier cited cases, no doubt, have brought to the fore the growing rate of suicides in Nigeria. From the ballooning number of such cases recorded by security agencies, suicide appears to have become one of the leading causes of death in the country, aside from diseases, killings, motor accidents, malnutrition and poverty.
According to psychologists, suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and an entire country and also has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Victims of suicide cut across all gender and age, ethnic groups and social standing. More alarming is the growing number of teenagers that have now embraced suicide as a means to an end. According to mental health experts, the magnitude of the problem is further compounded by the fact that the incidence of attempted suicide is about 25 times more than that of actual suicide.
According to the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP), each year, more than 800,000 people die by suicide, which is one person every 40 seconds, and up to 25 times that number at least make suicide attempts.
In 2016, suicide was rated the second leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 19 globally. And over 79 per cent of global suicides were reported to occur in low and middle-income countries, including Nigeria.
In the 2015, World Health Organisation (WHO) suicide ranking, Nigeria took the placed 30th among 183 most suicide-prone nations of the world. It was also rated 10th among African countries with high rates of suicide such as Togo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, rated 26th, 11th, 19th, 7th, 22nd and 15th on the scale, respectively.
On July 29, 2018, Spectator Index published a WHO research that ranked suicide per 100,000, per country. Nigeria was ranked 5th with 15,000 suicides in every 100,000.
Nigeria, which ranked 78th in the world and second in Africa on the World Happiness Report for the Year 2016, dropped to 103rd and 6th position in the 2017 World Happiness report.
According to statistics from various police commands, within the first six months in 2017, seven out of the 36 states of the federation surveyed recorded 62 cases of suicide. Further breaking it down, the report indicated that Ogun and Lagos recorded the highest figures of 25 and 12, respectively. Other states involved in the survey were Ebonyi, Delta, Oyo, Ondo and Kano.
According the PPRO, Lagos State, Dolapo Badmus, a superintendent of police, 12 suicide cases and five attempted suicides were reported to the command within six months that year.
Despite the alarming statistics, suicide rates have increased by about 60 per cent over the last 45 years, thus constituting a major public health burden. These incidents, however, are grossly under-reported globally and many developing countries, including Nigeria, do not have meaningful records of deaths and their causes.
Though several reasons have been given as to why people have suicidal thoughts or commit suicide, the ones that have always remained prominent include frustration, mental stress,as well as psychological, emotional and social issues. While other causes like terminal disease could lead to resignation and then suicidal tendencies, it is common knowledge that 90 per cent of those that commit suicide suffer depression, which is classified as a mental health issue.
According to Ugwu Odinaka, a psychologist, low self-esteem and rejection, which could arise due to physical disability or disease, could demoralise and possibly make suicide appear as an easy way out for some people. He, however, said frustration, which could lead to depression has been noted to be a top risk factor.
Odinaka identified recession and inflation as two other major factors that have put many on the spot and could trigger suicidal thoughts in an already depressed individual. He noted that these factors have created hardship, which could ultimately lead to depression, as people are deprived of basic necessities and amenities of life.
“Many Nigerians still live below the minimum wage of N18,000, and they daily feed from hand to mouth as the economic condition continues to bite harder. Most people are depressed and nothing can bring succour to such dejected souls than appropriate counselling.
“In a place like Nigeria, ignorance to the perils of depression might be a cause for lack of attention to suicide. If people don’t know what depression is and that help is needed to treat and manage it, they will see suicide as an only option. People need to be aware of mental health and depression,” he said.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) some behavioural patterns that emerge or are observed when a person becomes suicidal include withdrawing from family and friends, acting agitated and anxious, talking about wanting to die, talking about feeling empty, broken, hopeless; feeling unbearable pain and using alcohol.
However, mental health experts have maintained that the burden and inclination to commit suicide are in the heart. Hence, oftentimes, friends and family members always miss the warning signals, don’t understand and, in most cases, cannot relate to symptoms of suicidal tendencies when they are exhibited, until after the deed has been done.
According to WHO, ingestion of insecticide, pesticide, hanging and firearms are the most common methods of committing suicide globally.
As a serious public health problem, the organisation said suicide could be prevented with timely, evidence-based and often low-cost interventions that include a comprehensive national suicide prevention strategy
In proffering more solutions to the menace, WHO has proposed actions for suicide prevention and suicide attempts that include: reducing access to the means of committing suicide. Early identification, treatment and care of people with mental illness and substance use disorders, chronic pain and acute emotional distress was also advocated. Provision of support, sensitisation and awareness, engaging stakeholders in the ministry of health, engaging the media and improving data quality were also outlined.
According to Joseph Franklin, a lead author in a latest research work, titled, Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours: A Meta-analysis of 50 Years of Research, everyone should pay attention to the totality of people they know. He noted that while it is difficult to talk about death, it was important to know that “unwillingness to notice, listen, and gently ask questions only helps to perpetuate the stigma concerning mental health problems.”
For many, suicide and its statistics, rather than for documentation, should be a serious call to action. They called on government to remedy the situation by ensuring a full turnaround in the nation’s economic situation.
