Sad chronicle of Nigeria’s suicidal youths
Faced with recurrent socio-political and economic hardships, some Nigerian youths seek escape by committing suicide.
Titilola Bada leapt from her perch on the floor for the fourth time. She hobbled to the door on feet that were deemed too unsteady to bear such pace on her chubby frame. The two-year old kept chanting “Koke! Koke!” a corruption of her mother’s name “Toke” as she made for the entrance every time somebody knocked on the door. Instinctively, each visitor picked her gently from the floor, flashing a dull smile and cooing reassuringly into her ears: “Mummy is coming,” “Mummy went to get you biscuit,” and so on.
The fifth time she ran to the door, Asake Olanbiwonu a.k.a Iya Olomi, her grandmother, got impatient and snapped rhetorically at no one in particular that: “Will somebody save this poor girl from her misery and take her somewhere to play?”
Iya Olomi’s rhetoric spurred a neighbour’s daughter to act; the latter, an undergraduate of the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, scooped up Titilola in her arms, telling her they were going to buy biscuit as she stepped out with her.
As they departed, Iya Olomi’s wrinkled hand fell unsteadily from her cheek and she shifted her gaze from their retreating visage to stare at a life-sized portrait of Toke, her late daughter.
Silently, a lone tear glided down the rough edges of her face; Toke, on April 29, swallowed an overdose of a second-rate insecticide and rat poison. The 22-year old trader reportedly came home few hours after she left for a party on the day of the incident on the pretext of picking up some forgotten jewelry.
“I was outside sieving yam flour when she arrived. I asked her what she had come back to do so early but she simply hurried past me claiming she had forgotten some jewelry. Twenty minutes after she arrived, she still hadn’t come out. I called from my shop (which was few metres from the deceased’s window) to ask if she had seen the jewelry and she bellowed back at me in the affirmative. She said she had seen it and she only needed to rest for a while. ‘I can’t be the first person to arrive at the party,’ she told me.”
Unknown to Iya Olomi, her daughter had no plans to go to the party. About one hour after she went inside, Toke’s mom tried to prise open the door to her room but realised that it was firmly locked from inside. “She never used to lock that door,” said Iya Olomi. But on that fateful day, Toke did.
By the time the door was forced open two hours later, with the assistance of their neighbours, Iya Olomi found the lifeless body of her daughter on the bed. Toke left no suicide note but she left behind a 78-year-old mother and two-year-old daughter.
Nobody knows what drove the 22-year-old to commit suicide but three weeks after she took her life, Toke’s demise remains a deep and festering gash in the hearts of her loved ones.
A greater gash no doubt festers in the heart of Tanko Mijinyawa. Four months ago, in January 2014 to be precise, the latter watched helplessly as Mansur, his 21-year-old son set himself ablaze and burned to death at their family home in Taraba State. Mijinyawa had allegedly refused to bless his son’s marriage, claiming that his prospective bride, Blessing, was a wrong choice.
Apparently dissatisfied with his father’s take on the issue, the young man went to a corner in the compound, poured petrol over his body and set himself on fire. According to eyewitnesses, efforts to save Mansur’s life proved futile as they could not reach him because of the flames. His father was reportedly rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo, to treat injuries sustained while trying to rescue his child from the fire. The following month Saidu Babura, a 45-year-old security guard, hung himself to death on a tree. This reportedly took place after years-long protracted battle with drug abuse.
In Nigeria, suicide is becoming a major public health issue; the past few years have heralded an upsurge in suicide death reportage in the local media. For instance, the Nigerian public will not forget in a hurry, the story of Tunrayo, an ex-banker that allegedly took her own life in July 2011 by hanging herself, after being jilted by her lover. Tunrayo reportedly attempted suicide earlier in December, 2010. Reports had it that depression started settling into the once sociable lady’s life when her fiancé called off their wedding and broke up with her. Many more incidences of suicides were recorded in the past years, with most of the victims ending their lives by hanging themselves; many victims reportedly committed suicide due to seemingly insurmountable dilemma they found themselves.
A final year student of Business Administration at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Lagos State, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself two days after he was caught cheating while sitting for his final examinations. He reportedly left what could be regarded as a suicide note, through his Facebook post, saying, “What they said about me is not true in the school, but God knows better. Thanks, we see at the end, I love you all.”
Tobilola, 22, reportedly committed suicide when her boyfriend denied her pregnancy. Her suicide note read: “Please, I killed myself by taking rat poison because he rejected my pregnancy. I was sincere to him and I never double dated. So I decided to take my life and my God will revenge because I did not forgive him.”
Ayobami Ogundare, 22, a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Ojere, Abeokuta, also committed suicide in January this year, in mysterious circumstances. The victim had reportedly made an earlier attempt to jump in a river three days earlier but was restrained by members of a vigilance group who rushed to his rescue. Ogundare eventually committed suicide on January 5, after a thanksgiving was held for his sake by his family at their church.
In Jalingo, Taraba State, we had the case of a 30-year-old woman, Bilkisi Gidado, allegedly committed suicide after her husband took a second wife. Gidado was said to have set herself ablaze and eventually fell into a well in her residence.
According to the World Health Organisation statistics, about one million people worldwide die from suicide every year (mean mortality rate: 16 per 100.000), that is, one death every 40 seconds. In some countries suicide is the second leading cause of death in the 10 to 24 years age group; these figures do not include suicide attempts which are up to 20 times more frequent than completed suicide.
For example, in Germany only accidents − mainly fatal traffic injuries − are a more frequent cause of death in adolescents aged between 15 to 19 years. The relative weight of suicide as a cause of death varies between countries and regions, according to the impact of a variety of factors. Nevertheless, suicide remains an important cause of death among adolescents and young adults worldwide.
Demography of suicide
Though suicide is a deeply personal and individual act, suicidal behaviour is determined by a number of factors, according to medical experts. These can be classified under the terms of predisposing factors and precipitating factors, according Olumide Okin, a consultant clinical psychiatrist. Predisposing factors, according to him, are internal determinants operating at the level of the individual. These include such dynamics as personality traits, bonds with family and society, biological and genetic factors.
Suicidal behaviour, however, has two dimensions, according to recent research findings. The first dimension is the degree of medical lethality or damage resulting from the suicide attempt. The second dimension relates to suicidal intent and measures the degree of preparation, the desire to die versus the desire to live, and the chances of discovery. The clinical profiles of suicide attempters and completers overlap. Suicide “attempters” who survive very lethal attempts, which are known as failed suicides, have the same clinical and psychosocial profile as suicide “completers”, according to a recent WHO and World Bank sponsored report.
This assertion is wholly illustrated by a recent incident involving Sunday Omotayo, an unemployed Mechanical Engineering graduate of the Ekiti State University. Omotayo who attempted to commit suicide recently when he threw himself down on a busy street Uyo, Akwa Ibom State in frustration at his circumstances. Exasperated at his inability to secure a job 10 years after graduating from school, Omotayo attempted to committed suicide in the Akwa Ibom State capital by jumping off a speeding Toyota Hiace bus on to the road leading to Ibom Plaza in the city centre.
He reportedly resorted to the suicidal act after failing at an earlier one. Omotayo allegedly approached the state’s prison service asking the warders to either kill him or allow him rot in jail. One prison official said: “We just saw somebody, well dressed and on tie with no look of being mentally deranged running towards us. His action forced us to become immediately alert with our weapons.
“The next thing he said was shoot me, shoot me, I want to die, I am tired of this world. We were still facing him with our weapons when he scrambled towards us, saying we should allow him to enter and die inside the prison,” revealed a prison guard.
The prison officers eventually succeeded in calming Omotayo’s nerves and got him on the bus from which he made another suicide bid. Fortunately, none of the cars crushed him when he jumped off the bus and policemen were on hand to restrain him. Omotayo said: “There is no state that I have not gone to in search of job in the past 10 years but none for me. I came to Akwa Ibom State because this is my last hope…I have heard stories of Governor Godswill Akpabio’s uncommon transformation. However, unfortunately, since I came, I discovered that even many people from Akwa Ibom are also crying because of poverty and joblessness.”
According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics in December, as many as 54 per cent of Nigerian youths were unemployed in 2012; in the survey, the population of youths aged between 15 and 35 years in Nigeria was estimated to be 64 million.
Personality traits
Personality characteristics have been associated with higher risk for suicide. The traits that have been identified are a heightened sense of hopelessness, a high score on neurotism, external locus of control, low self-esteem, aggression, novelty seeking behaviour, and impulsiveness. The trait of introversion has been associated with higher risk for suicide, especially among adolescents. Suicidal youths have often been linked with impulsive and aggressive tendencies and low tolerance for frustration. Such youths are not only more aggressive toward others and their environment but also are more impulsive in other ways that involve, for example, relationships or personal decisions about a job or purchases. A propensity for more severe suicidal ideation and a greater likelihood of acting on powerful feelings combine to place some at greater risk. The greater frequency of aggressive behaviours in men may partly explain the higher suicide rates reported in men than in women, argued Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, a consultant clinical psychiatrist.
The male as easier prey to suicide
In most countries, men have a higher reported rate of completed suicide, whereas women have a higher rate of attempted suicide. Men tend to use means that are more lethal, plan the suicide attempt more carefully, and avoid detection. In contrast, women tend to use less lethal means of suicide, which carry a higher chance of survival, and they more commonly express an appeal for help by conducting the attempt in a manner that favors discovery and rescue.
Studies conducted in the developing countries of the African continent shows that the trend of more attempted suicides by women was maintained. But the rates for completed suicide for men were higher. In South Africa for instance 76.8 per cent of all suicide attempts were made by women. In Nigeria the ratio for completed suicide for men to women was 3:6 to 1.
The rates of suicide in the aged, especially men, have been steadily rising in most developing countries with depression and chronic physical illness being the main contributing factors. But the most vulnerable group are the young adults which has seen a peak in the recent years with the rates rising for both males and females other than in mainland China where the spurt has been restricted to rural females, according to research findings courtesy a World Bank and W.H.O assisted project.
A five-year (1996 – 2000) retrospective study in South Africa found that the average age of the suicide attempters was 31.2 years. Research findings from Nigeria indicate that most victims were in the third decade of their life. This was also confirmed by a six-month prospective study done in the three main general hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria. In the study, 39 cases of deliberate self-harm were reported out of a total 23,859 subjects attending the sections of hospital studied. Thirty (76.9%) were under 30 years of age and 36 (86.3%) were less than 34 years of age with more than half of the population (51.3%) being students.
Male to female ratio of suicide in Niger Delta for instance, is 7:1. This conclusion was drawn from the result of a research conducted by Dr. Offiah S of the Department of Anatomic Pathology, Abia State University Teaching Hospital and C.C Obiorah of Department of Anatomic Pathology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The research was a 10-year retrospective study of suicide cases reported to the Coroner in Rivers and Abia states of Nigeria. There were 32 cases (0.9%) of suicides out of a total of 3,555 medico-legal autopsies reviewed over the period. Of the 32 cases, 28 (87.5%) were males and four (12.5%) were females, giving a male to female ratio of 7:1.
The age distribution showed a peak incidence in the third decade. The commonest method of committing suicide in this environment is by hanging. The range and mean of the ages is 16 – 64 yrs and 31 yrs, respectively; this shows that the choice of how to die often depends on the most available and most convenient means at hand. Women chose less violent means of suicide such as drowning or poisoning, while males often chose violent methods such as hanging or firearms, according to the findings.
This gender ratio is similar to the accepted view of male dominance, and has also been reported in many other countries. Some medical professionals believe this dominance stems from the fact that males are more likely to end their lives through effective violent means. This observation confirms the general view of the male sex being more aggressive and violent. The aggressive and violent attribute of males have been ascribed to the male sex hormone – testosterone.
The rising cases of suicide bombings perpetrated by male militants with the Boko Haram terrorist group in North East Nigeria, for instance, substantiates the argument that the male gender oftentimes is prone to violent suicide, according Isabella Ayinde-Thomas, founder of the the Subsaharan Peace Initiative International (SPII).
According to the World Health Organisation’s Suicide Prevention Programme (SUPRE) website, in some countries suicide rates among young people have increased so much that adolescents and young adults represent the group at highest risk for suicide. This refers to a third of all countries and holds for more and less industrialised nations. A high suicide rate among adolescents and young adults in Nigeria for instance is becoming a recurrent malady.
Risk factors
A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Abiodun Adewuya, expressed concern over the high rate of suicide in Nigeria, blaming the problem on the inability of government to address social issues. Adewuya of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, said that available hospital records had shown that suicide was becoming rampant in the society.
According to him, there could be extreme cases that could drive people to commit suicide. He attributed the rising cases of suicide in the country to mental illnesses, chronic illnesses, social and environmental factors, adding that lack of self-esteem also made many people to commit suicide.
“There are some illnesses that are likely to make you want to commit suicide, like depression…Severe cases are people who have very low mood, they have pessimistic thinking. Most of them believe that they cannot succeed in life, that they are better off dead. There could be other chronic debilitating illnesses that are highly stigmatised.
“The second one is the social cause. One, in which you believe the environment is dysfunctional, you cannot function inside it. The other one in which you believe you are very dysfunctional, it’s either you live in the environment or you just kill yourself. And the other one in which you believe that you are fighting for a cause,” he noted.
It has also been seen in many studies conducted in the developing world that suicide was preceded by a period of acute stress. Major life events have almost always been identified in the preceding two weeks before a suicide attempt is made. Stress when chronic has also been identified as one of the reasons for suicide. Stress can result from financial setbacks, grief over the death of a loved one, academic failure, and break-up of a marriage and from other environmental and socio-cultural factors.
Poverty, poor physical health, physical and psychological abuse among other factors lays grounds for low quality of life. All these factors contribute to a higher risk for suicide. Researchers have identified various risk factors that contribute to suicide. The ones that have been consistently recognised have been broadly classified include, physical abuse, that is childhood adversities including physical, emotional and sexual abuse which have been proven to lead to substantially higher risk for suicide. Wife abuse is one of the most significant precipitants of female
Shades of intent
The key difference between deliberate self-injury and suicide attempt is in the intent to end one’s life. For example, a 14-year-old girl takes a small overdose of paracetamol intending to kill herself, although she does not succeed (suicide attempt). Another 14-year-old girl takes a large overdose of paracetamol because she is angry and upset. She did not want to kill herself (non-suicidal self-injury).
Further, some non-suicidal self-harming acts may actually result in death by ignorance or miscalculation (the latter 14-year-old was not aware of the toxic effects of paracetamol and actually died as a result). It has to be kept in mind that both forms of self-harm may overlap: individuals with suicide attempts may also show non-suicidal self-injuring behavior and vice versa. Regrettably, evaluating intent is often difficult in clinical practice.
Theological objections
Suicide is variously considered as a sin by adherents to the two most prominent faith in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam. A Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdulrahman Olaniwun, argued that it is sinful for a man or woman to take his own life. “Whatever issues you have to deal with, Allah (S.W.T) has instituted measures to assist you in overcoming them. You only need to reach out to him in prayer,’ he said. Corroborating him, Evangelist Israel Oduseun, a Lagos-based pastor, stated that anyone that takes his own life, will find himself to blame before God. Suicide is wrongful. It is a sin that establishes and celebrates lack of faith in the greatness and omnipotence of God,” he said.
Suicide in Nigeria at a glance
The Nigeria Police Force classifies suicide under ‘Offences Against Persons’ in sections 326 and 327 of the Criminal Code although the force suffers a dearth of dependable statistics on local suicide rates.
However, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, Frank Mba, said it would be difficult to provide the exact figure of suicide cases in Nigeria because not all cases were reported formally. And while it was difficult to get the statistics of suicide rate in the country, Mba said the 2007 and 2008 figures covered all the states of the federation. According to the police, Nigeria recorded more cases of suicide in 2007 than in 2008. While there were 154 reported cases in 2007, the figure dropped to 141 in 2008. Lagos State recorded the highest figure of 42 cases or almost 30 per cent of all cases in 2008 alone, followed by Oyo, 13; Anambra, 12; and Bauchi, 12.
In 2007, Bauchi led with 25 cases, followed by Edo, Kano and Anambra with 12 cases each. Section 326 of the Criminal Code condemns “Aiding Suicide” and stipulates that, “Any person who procures another to kill himself or counsels another to kill himself and thereby induces him to do so or aids another in killing himself is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.”
Dealing with suicide
It is, to recast Jane Austen; a truth universally acknowledged that elevated suicide rates reflect social dysfunction. Riaz Hassan in his study of suicide in Singapore observes that what all sociological accounts of suicide have in common is: “They explicitly or implicitly take suicide as symptomatic of what is wrong with society: the higher the suicide rate, the greater the social tension and lack of social cohesion.”
And touting elevated rates of suicide as consequence of extreme social isolation of individuals in industrialised societies, Emile Durkheim, French Sociologist in 1897, proposed the creation of new intermediate groups in society which would unite workers and managers. “The chief role’ of these utopian corporations, which is labeled as a form of ‘centralised guild-socialism’ would be to ‘govern social functions, especially economic functions, and thus extricate them from their present state of disorganisations,” argued Durkheim.
In the atomised world of modern society, it would be necessary for the state to create and foster these rather unlikely organs of civil society to reform and strengthen the social bonds which the market and the modern division of labour had severed.
Two enduring traditions of social interpretation, however, trace their roots to Durkheim’s work. The first is the theme of isolated individuals in industrialised society who have few strong social bonds to others which in Durkheim’s interpretation is the principal cause of elevated suicide rates. The other enduring theme is the unchallenged acceptance that increasing or elevated suicide rates indicate the presence of some form of deep-seated social crisis. This notion holds that behind suicide and other youth problems also lies a profound and growing failure of the culture of societiesa failure to provide a sense of meaning, belonging and purpose in our lives, and a framework of values.
More scholarly research work has advocated the significance of improving human relationships, building social capital and strengthening the bonds of kinship, interaction and other forms of human society but can such measures be ever enough to tame the rising fascination with suicide as a leeway out of peculiar problems afflicting peculiar suicidal youths?
Dr. Adewuya advised that troubled individuals could develop resilience by cultivating good eating habit and maintaining good mental health. Adewuya urged the Federal Government and other non-governmental organisations to provide a social welfare system to prevent people from committing suicide. “In other places, the government has this welfare system that can trace people are living in abject poverty or in situations where socially, they need help. And the social workers are supposed to trace them and actually offer them something, but our social service system is very poor. So, someone who is depressed, or who had a mental illness, based on all these things we have outlined, you bring them to me, yes of course, I will treat them. Within a week or two they will leave my ward.
“But I won’t give him a job, I won’t give him a wife, I won’t stop him from being in traffic for three hours before he gets to his house. All those ones are social issues that I cannot tackle,” said Dr. Adewuya.
