A British historian said this about death: The consequence of birth is death. And the greatest dramatist of all times, William Shakespeare, made this remarkable comment about death: “Death is a necessary end that will come when it will come.” In fact, our shrouds of death are being woven intricately as soon as we are born. So, time bears us on its craft to eternity. But has the reality of the inevitability of death dawned on us? We mourn the passage of our relations, friends, and parents because we can’t reverse their deaths.
So, dating back to millions of years ago, mystics, reverend fathers, Islamic mullahs, Buddhists, and others have been making spiritual investigations to unravel the mysteries of death. The Jehovah Witnesses, a Christian group, for example, believe that God will resurrect those who died millions of years ago. And they believe that those who are resurrected will live and reign on earth. And many other Christians hold the belief that those who lived righteously while on earth will inherit the heavenly kingdom upon their demise.
However, Nigeria is in the firm grip of the epidemic of suicide. From the sun-baked land of Yola to the marshy creeks of the Niger-delta, from the urbane coal-city of Enugu to the boisterous Lagos, we hear morbid tales about those who killed themselves. Incredibly, those involved were people in the prime of their lives. Young educated Nigerians are embracing suicide, which is the devil’s alternative. Our young people embracing suicide as a way of escapism has got to an alarming and disturbing dimension.
Till now, in Igbo land, it is a sacrilegious act for a man to kill himself. We do not perform funeral ceremonies for suicides. They are ignominiously wrapped in cloths and thrown into dense forests, where wild beasts will feast on them. After that, a traditional medicine man will be invited to cleanse his family house to prevent recurrence of such evil and despicable act in future.
It is not only the Igbo custom that frowns at suicide. The Christian religion is condemnatory of it, too. The Bible exhorts us to seek God’s intercession when we are experiencing existential problems. Our Christian clerics do urge us to exercise faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ and pin our hope on Christ, who is the ransom for our sins.
But since the epidemic of suicide broke out in the country, this question has been agitating our minds: Why do seemingly imperturbable people commit suicide? People take their lives for variety of reasons like depression, betrayals in relationships, failures in academics and business, psychiatric problems, drug addiction, and others.
Today, our economy is so grossly mismanaged that millions are living below the breadline owing to their joblessness. Yet, our universities, polytechnics, and other schools still churn out graduates who join the growing number of the unemployed.
In order to stem the tide of suicide in Nigeria, governments at different levels should implement economic measures to ameliorate people’s sufferings. There’s also urgent need for our schools to train many more psychiatrists, who can treat millions who are suffering from mental illnesses, which can predispose them to commit suicide.
- By Chiedu Uche Okoye Uruowulu-Obosi Anambra State
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