The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Suicide

  • Suicide: Why banning sniper is not enough

    Sir: With the media abuzz with tales of death-by-sniper suicides, it is not unexpected that calls for the ban of the pesticide have reached new decibels in recent times owing to reported and unreported cases of suicides traced to it.

    Having been domesticated by many Nigerians for use as insecticide despite made for pests, the pesticide has worryingly found usefulness among Nigerians who just want to end their misery by guzzling away their frustration.

    Truth be told, one cannot dismiss with a wave of the hand the danger the pesticide poses to respiratory organs when inhaled. However, the call for the ban of the pesticide simply because some people do not know when to apply the brakes is an overkill — something akin to cutting off the head to treat a stubborn headache.

    No doubt, death by suicide has assumed a frightening dimension. But the menace is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), close to 800,000 people die by suicide every year. More troubling is the fact that the world health body says suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds.

    While those who argue that restricting access to means of suicide is a well-known measure adopted to check death by suicide, they must also be reminded that attention can only shift to other means of suicide aside from sniper without a holistic approach to tackling the menace.

    Only recently, some Nigerian lawmakers blamed the rising wave of suicides on the alarming rate of poverty in Nigeria. With Nigeria being the poverty capital of the world, to deny that poverty is a factor would amount to playing the ostrich. Of course, Senator Rochas Okorocha brought an interesting twist to the debate by calling for the creation of the Ministry of Happiness to dish out happiness aplenty to frustrated and depressed Nigerians!

    The story of one Madam Veronica aired on Channels TV recently captures how poverty can catalyse the process of terminating one’s life. Veronica had confessed that but for her daughter, she would have drunk “Otapiapua” (locally prepared insecticide) because life was hell for her after the demise of her husband. The mother of six had lamented that feeding her six children was a tall order let alone meeting their basic needs after her business crumbled.

    Also, there are reported cases of young people who took their lives because they had poor grades in school as undergraduates and those who believed there was nothing to live for after several failed attempts to secure admission into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, among other cases.

    It is also noteworthy to state that information obtained from the website of World Population Review in a report it titled “Suicide Rate By Country 2019” reveals that France, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, Singapore, China and Nigeria have 17.7, 12.5, 13.6, 11.6, 17.2, 9.9, 9.7 and 9.5 suicides per 100,000 respectively.

    The aforementioned cases explain the complexity of the problem of suicide in Nigeria and why seekers of solution must be broad-minded in their approach. It is instructive to note that Madam Vero already had an alternative to sniper even before ban-sniper-evangelists succeed!

    It is true that the spate of death-by-sniper suicides make a compelling case for drastic measures to be taken to save our compatriots, but we must bear in mind that apart from sniper, people have a thousand and one ways to die if they are determined to bid the world farewell.

    We need more than ever before a national suicide prevention strategy. It is time we made suicide prevention a health priority by providing easy access to mental health care. In a country where religious leaders wield enormous influence on their followers, the National Orientation Agency has dependable partners in Pastors, Imams and other religious leaders to buck this ugly trend.

    Governments at all levels must also treat the issue of poverty with the needed gravitas. Tokenism or dishing out handouts will not cut it. If we must properly address the nagging problem of suicide, its causes must be tackled with special attention on preventive measures to make sniper and other means of suicide unattractive.

     

    • Ladesope Ladelokun,

     ladesopeladelokun@gmail.com

  • Suicide: ESUT medical school brainstorms the scourge

    Irked by the ravaging epidemic of suicide in the society, the College of Medicine, University of Science and Technology (ESUT) packaged a lecture where the issue was discussed and dissected by an expert.

    With the theme: “Alarming Rate of Suicide: the underlying factors and issues”, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Professor Luke Anike in his opening remarks said suicide, basically has to do with the individual’s self-perception and ability to withstand stresses of any kind.

    Stressing that the lecture not only addressed a problem of the society but that it should be noted that it most importantly addressed “the problems of university communities as a greater percentage of those that were recently involved were undergraduates.”

    “Now that it is ravaging our youths especially in the university communities, it is important that we take a very close look at it from all ramifications with a view to stemming the tide”, Anike said.

    Professor Richard Uwakwe who teaches Neuropsychiatry at  the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi campus was the guest lecturer.

    He told the audience at the auditorium of the College of Medicine that a number of factors were found to be associated with either suicidal attempt or ideas which he listed as young age and traumatic experience.

    He said explaining the cause of suicide could be quite complex, involving philosophical, sociological and neurobiological issues.

    “Although, primarily, suicide in itself is not a mental disorder, however, most (90%) people who committed suicide have been found  to have had a mental disorder.

    “Incidentally the majority of mental disorders that are associated with suicide are treatable. But there is no treatment for suicide because it is the end of life. Rather what is available is the prevention of suicide,” the lecturer hinted.

    He asserted that the most important point in prevention of suicide is the recognition of at risk individuals. “While psychiatrists are trained to do formal risk assessment, there is a collective responsibility for suicide prevention, without necessarily medicalising a complex problem.

    “People who have mental disorders and those who are single, separated, widowed, divorced usually have higher risk.

    “Suicidal threats are not to be taken lightly and once an individual shows signs of possible suicide in the context of risk estimation, there is need for active intervention. Sometimes simple measures such as listening, showing concern and empathy can be very helpful.”

    Uwakwe posited that a number of factors constitute barriers in fighting against suicide in the Nigerian society.

    He gave for example, that psychiatry has a very low profile in most medical school curriculum, coming as a mere appendix to the more glamorous areas of medical specialties.

    He explained: “Consequently, many medical graduates have only a faint idea of psychiatry, where it is taught at all. Coupled with stigma, this is complicated by the fact that as today, Nigeria has no Mental Health Law.

    “Nigerian psychiatrists still operate with the outdated 1916 Lunacy Act and this has sometimes led to inability to prevent extended suicide.

    Uwakwe called on government at all levels to resolve the challenges of unemployment, job losses, poverty and insecurity as a necessary step towards tackling the problem of increasing rate of suicide in the country.

    He told the audience that Nigeria was under siege by suicide with 42 cases in six months.

    He recommended that in addition to addressing economic downturn in the country with the pressure it is putting on individuals, African values which enhance social integration should also be encouraged to help prevent suicide and suicide tendencies.

  • Suicide: ESUT medical school brainstorms the scourge

    Irked by the ravaging epidemic of suicide in the society, the College of Medicine, University of Science and Technology (ESUT) packaged a lecture where the issue was discussed and dissected by an expert.

    With the theme: “Alarming Rate of Suicide: the underlying factors and issues”, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Professor Luke Anike in his opening remarks said suicide, basically has to do with the individual’s self-perception and ability to withstand stresses of any kind.

    Stressing that the lecture not only addressed a problem of the society but that it should be noted that it most importantly addressed “the problems of university communities as a greater percentage of those that were recently involved were undergraduates.”

    “Now that it is ravaging our youths especially in the university communities, it is important that we take a very close look at it from all ramifications with a view to stemming the tide”, Anike said.

    Professor Richard Uwakwe who teaches Neuropsychiatry at  the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi campus was the guest lecturer.

    He told the audience at the auditorium of the College of Medicine that a number of factors were found to be associated with either suicidal attempt or ideas which he listed as young age and traumatic experience.

    He said explaining the cause of suicide could be quite complex, involving philosophical, sociological and neurobiological issues.

    “Although, primarily, suicide in itself is not a mental disorder, however, most (90%) people who committed suicide have been found  to have had a mental disorder.

    “Incidentally the majority of mental disorders that are associated with suicide are treatable. But there is no treatment for suicide because it is the end of life. Rather what is available is the prevention of suicide,” the lecturer hinted.

    He asserted that the most important point in prevention of suicide is the recognition of at risk individuals. “While psychiatrists are trained to do formal risk assessment, there is a collective responsibility for suicide prevention, without necessarily medicalising a complex problem.

    “People who have mental disorders and those who are single, separated, widowed, divorced usually have higher risk.

    “Suicidal threats are not to be taken lightly and once an individual shows signs of possible suicide in the context of risk estimation, there is need for active intervention. Sometimes simple measures such as listening, showing concern and empathy can be very helpful.”

    Uwakwe posited that a number of factors constitute barriers in fighting against suicide in the Nigerian society.

    He gave for example, that psychiatry has a very low profile in most medical school curriculum, coming as a mere appendix to the more glamorous areas of medical specialties.

    He explained: “Consequently, many medical graduates have only a faint idea of psychiatry, where it is taught at all. Coupled with stigma, this is complicated by the fact that as today, Nigeria has no Mental Health Law.

    “Nigerian psychiatrists still operate with the outdated 1916 Lunacy Act and this has sometimes led to inability to prevent extended suicide.

    Uwakwe called on government at all levels to resolve the challenges of unemployment, job losses, poverty and insecurity as a necessary step towards tackling the problem of increasing rate of suicide in the country.

    He told the audience that Nigeria was under siege by suicide with 42 cases in six months.

    He recommended that in addition to addressing economic downturn in the country with the pressure it is putting on individuals, African values which enhance social integration should also be encouraged to help prevent suicide and suicide tendencies.

  • Dealing with rising wave of suicide

    Sir: Recent happenings across the country show that there is an alarming upsurge in incidences of suicide. Usually, Nigerians are considered lovers of life and as such would never contemplate suicide for whatever reason. But, recent occurrence in the country has since changed that. Experts have affirmed that this current situation might not be unconnected with prevalence of depression among Nigerians. The Medilexicon’s medical dictionary depicts depression as medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.

    Depression is more than just a feeling of being sad or moody for a few days. symptoms of depression include feeling sad or empty, loss of interest in favourite activities, overeating, or not wanting to eat at all, not being able to sleep or sleeping too much, fatigue, feeling of hopelessness, irritation, anxiety, guilt, aches, pains, thought of death or suicide, erratic or changed behaviour, loneliness, desperation among others. It can also lead to marital troubles as depression victims find it very hard adjusting to family values and ethics.

    From all indications, the nation’s tough economic situation has increased the number of citizens who run the risk of clinical depression. Reports indicate that the rate of marital break ups has increased while matrimonial violence occasioned by economic woes has equally multiplied significantly while more men now abscond from home to escape growing economic responsibilities.

    Obviously, if depression is not properly addressed, it could culminate in suicide. Suicide is almost a strange occurrence in our clime as Nigerians are, perhaps, the most optimistic set of people on earth. The resilience of a typical Nigerian as well as his dynamic spiritual fortitude makes suicide the least of his contemplations.  Recent events have, however, altered this entire hypothesis. So, Nigerians are not, after all, immune from suicide.

    The causes of mental illness are complex and vary according to the particular disorder and individuals. Genetics, early development, drugs, a loss of family member, disease or injury, neuro-cognitive and psychological mechanisms, and life experiences, society and culture, can all contribute to the development or progression of different mental disorders in people. The most common, view, however, is that mental disorder tends to result from genetic vulnerabilities and environmental stressors combining to cause patterns of dysfunction or trigger disorder.

    Recent survey indicates 40 per cent of employers view workers with mental health conditions as a significant risk while 42 percent of employers are still underestimating the relevance of mental health in their workplace. Given the negative perception from employers, many applicants may feel that it is in their best interest not to disclose their mental conditions.  Today, 73 percent of work places across the globe still have no formal mental health policy.

    To stem the current tide of depression, mental illness and suicide across the country, the Federal Government must make concerted efforts to fix the economy.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos StateMinistry of Information and Strategy.

  • Suicide

    It cheers the heart that an old general adds a word to our political vocabulary. Not since Adelabu of what Soyinka calls the Penkelemesi years, the grand loquacity of the great Zik, the pompous orations of Mbadiwe and local vintage of Akintola’s phrases have we seen coinages for the ages.

    It is regrettable, though, that when Obasanjo conjures a word it turns out to be Fulanisation.  But Obasanjo lacks the glamour of those men of literary legacy. The Owu chief has drawn flaks and combative praise for characterising the waves of northern banditry, including Boko Haram, as Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria.

    Before we go into the merit of this assertion, we must know that Obasanjo is a bitter man. Few know that the 2019 poll was the Owu chief’s first major loss. For a man of his age, Cicero says it is his “play’s last act.” He had been a serial winner. He had been blessed with opportunism. He had been like the Italian soccer striker, Paolo Rossi, who was absent in the game until he had slivers of chances. When he had them, he scored. Others toiled, he basked like quicksilver. Obasanjo had been a sweatless conqueror. He reaped where others sowed. The scriptures capture the old man’s legend thus: “One man builds, and another occupies.” Obasanjo had been a tenant with a landlord’s certificate.

    He must be in a giddy state today. He is in an unfamiliar time warp. The old man is in a daze. His hilltop palace must be lowly and lonely these days. He thought Buhari would win the last election. But he had no choice but to dig in with Atiku, the old foe whose friendship he had publicly laughed to scorn. The scorn is now their fair-weather reconciliation, their Judas kiss. He had fallen out with his former army subordinate. No more salute from the highbrow of the tall inferior. The Owu chief was cornered into the opposition.

    Not like in 2015 when he made a public extravaganza of tearing a PDP card and later welcomed fawning APC invitees. He gambled and lost this time. He has lost his old battle gears, his vivacity of a pugilist. If he dances now it will be a play of self-mockery, like what Samuel Becket designates as risus purus, a laugh laughing at itself. Roger Rosenblatt calls it an abysmal farce. Obj seems to have found his voice somewhat, and in an unlikely place: a church.

    It tells how low many so-called men of God have sunken. Rather than make the church a sanctuary of holy writs, it has morphed into a pedestal for political jobbers. If Christ comes to earth today in the flesh, he would whip many of them who think glamour overtakes sobriety of spirit. Nowhere in scripture supports a politician preaching on the podium. What qualifies them? A part of society that has been, for most part, no role model for us except to rig elections and purloin our wealth and misgovern us.

    It was because of this that the concept of the two luminaries was developed in the Middle Ages. One is the luminary of the secular world, and the other of the spiritual. It was derived from the scripture when God created two luminaries, one for the night and the other for the day. The medieval age used that concept to distinguish the church and state. They are as apart as what Nobel Prize-winning Poet, Rudyard Kipling wrote in his ballad, “East is east, West is west, And never the twain shall meet.” It is a violation of the holies like idolatry, and Paul said: “Come ye from among them, and be ye separate.”

    The Owu chief’s claim of plots to Fulanise Nigeria is not sincere. I thought he knew more about that because he himself was Fulanised. Was it not them he ran to when his people rejected him in 1999, and they vaulted him to be president? Was it convenient then to be Fulanised? Did he not betray his kinsman, General Olufemi Olutoye, as recorded in Kole Omotoso, Just Before Dawn, when he orchestrated his premature retirement? The man had drawn Obasanjo’s attention to the lopsided projects and attitudes of the military government. Rather Obj called in Shehu Yar’Adua  to the office and asked Olutoye to repeat his complaint before his Fulani friend.

    The same thing I wrote in an earlier essay about TY Danjuma, who is now grouching about the Fulani. His rise in the army was at Fulani behest. Would he deny that today? He and Danjuma are now born again. This is no less than a cry after the fact. Obasanjo’s words could resonate with Buhari’s critics because Buhari also opened the window. His security team is lopsided for the north. Yet, the same security team is impotent, and lacks the imagination, resolve and architecture to tackle the mayhem around the north. Buhari once asserted in anger that he is not partial. He has to show it beyond words. When his SSS chief was removed, he chose a retired man from Kano and pushed away Seiyefa Matthew, an Ijaw man, who was acting. Yet, others in acting positions from the north tend to get the job under him. Not Seiyefa. Obasanjo saw the smoke and screamed fire.

    Yet we know that the problem of the north is not just about fulanising or islamising us, if that has always been an agenda. What we have today is different. Even Boko Haram is not Fulanising. The partisans are Kanuri. They want to Islamise, but the targets are everyone, including the traditional elite in the north. They want to purify Islam, according to their own lights.

    Yet, as this essayist has noted in the past month, the problem is class revolt. It may not have been articulated, but the actions are clear.  Those who seek God want gold first. Ask them in Zamfara. They are the poor who hate the oppressions of the feudal north. The al majiri are now targeting the mai gidas. If it is islamisation, who are the victims in Zamfara in their gold rush? Who are the victims paying fines in order to go to their farms in the Sokoto and Kebbi axis? Is it not a threat to food security? Are they collecting money to Fulanise or Islamise the Fulani? Who are the big guns who cannot now travel the routes from Kaduna to Abuja, and the highways between Kano and Sokoto? Are they not Fulani and Muslims? It is high time we realised that the failures of the feudal north is coming to terms with the subaltern rage of the common man.

    Obj raised a false alarm because he knew he had committed political suicide in his hoary age by siding with a team that lost. Winston Churchill said, “The trouble with committing political suicide is that you live to regret it.” Obj’s one suicide is haunting him, and he is regretting it in public by saying the wrong things. He is not having a last hurrah.

     

    Ajimobi’s hurrah

    During the presentation of my book on Governor Abiola Ajimobi last weekend, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, showed how monarchs can display class and erudition. While presenting the book, the Alaafin spoke with luminous quotes and historical allusions around the world. He articulated ideas of democracy with a fluent tongue. He also revealed how Ajimobi related with him, speaking of the governor as a man of principle. He said any time he brought matters he wanted resolved, they debated. Yet there was never one act of rancour in their father-son relationship.

    Ajimobi

    So, those who saw the Obaship tiff in Ibadan as Ajimobi’s contempt for the institution missed the point. It was the perfidy of those who had no liver to own up in public what they assented in private. As a man of courage, Ajimobi stuck to his principle. The same obas will become royal armies for governors in due course, and they will realise that he simplified mobilisation of the people in a quicksand city like Ibadan. A story of his forthrightness shone through in Ajimobi’s remarks about how he became managing director of National Oil. The company’s fortunes had dipped and the European directors came over to ask why. The local directors were blaming the market. He kept mum until one of the white men asked him to talk. He blamed the managing director. He said that on pain of being alienated and fired. Some of his colleagues had said same in secret but were dead from the neck up at the meeting. Rather than lose his job, Ajimobi was picked as one of two persons to interview for the top job. General Yakubu Gowon, chair of the board, told me he recommended him because he was the best of the directors. My book, The Architect and Builder of Modern Oyo State, puts his legacy in context.

  • Death by Suicide

    The government must recalibrate the economy in such a way that the factories will run again. Otherwise, the work force that we are training today and not using in these graduates will certainly explode someday.

    Whenever I have had the time, I have tried to update my record on movie watching. That is postscript-speake for I like to watch movies. This means essentially, I watch people who have been paid tonnes of money to act roles for my viewing pleasure. I agree it’s not fair; someday, I shall be paid too for watching. In the meantime, I have come to learn many terms such as death by natural causes, manslaughter, murder or suicide. Before I went into the movie industry (as a watcher, I promise you!), I thought death was death.

    The courts think differently, because they have varying degrees of sentences for each category. The only category they don’t have a sentence for is death by suicide. Obviously, the criminal preempts the courts by cleverly removing himself or herself from the loving arms of Lady Justice. You know her, don’t you? She is that blindfolded lady that has her arms permanently spread out to give you a hug when you commit a crime that will land you in Kirikiri. She holds a sword and a pair of scales; the scales are for measuring your crime, the sword is for cutting off the pound of flesh to atone. Grrrrr!

    Yes, dear reader, there are so many topics begging for attention this week, but none of them concerns me more right now than the continued disenchantment the young and old alike are finding with life, and which is causing them to take their own lives. Actually, this is a cause for national concern because the nation needs to ask itself why the suicide rate is rising and why many more people seem to be finding it easier to use suicide to solve their problems.

    You know what suicide is, don’t you? It is difficult to joke with a topic like this, so we will be straight. Suicide is when an individual decides that he or she has had enough of life, because of too much physical or mental or financial suffering, and kills himself or herself using any method at hand, sniper or drug overdose being the favourites. Usually, such people do it silently, because they do not want the neighbours to know.

    The reports of those who have committed suicide have risen so astronomically in the country. It’s so bad you don’t know whether to ask each person you meet in the course of the day if they are thinking of ending their life. Who knows: you might offend or you might save. Seriously, the rate of this disorder is alarming. In the news report on this topic, the rate in Nigeria is said to be almost one case per week at 9.5 per 100, 000, citing Nigeria’s ranking as 10th in Africa and 67th in the world.

    The reasons people easily resort to suicide can range from emotional problems to economic challenges, work stress, life’s stresses, setbacks, substance abuse, failure to achieve goals, mental or terminal illnesses, diminishing job prospects, etc. It becomes worrisome however when the youth are taking to it like a fad. Someone said it is ‘trending’! You know the youth, don’t you? It is that part of the population which thinks that the sun ought always to be shining in the eyes of their girl or boy friends, and whenever it doesn’t, then the end of the world has come.

    Indeed, another source told me that there are many cases of suicide not reported in the media or in the statistics, citing some young ones in his hospital who had attempted suicide and failed, while some had succeeded, on account of being jilted by one boy or girl friend. This I think is why doctors in our midst warned that there are likely to be many more suicides in that age bracket because the country is ‘breeding immature adults’, according to a news report.

    I am no psychiatrist, but clearly, psychological tensile strains differ. People’s ability to absorb failure and take things in their strides varies largely. Sadly, the toxic level of the country right now is rather high, what with boko haram insurgency, herdsmen attacks, kidnappings, economic downturn, social disconnections, reduced family presence, etc. All these are toxins that can act as catalysts and tip an individual with a weak strength over the edge.

    What can we do? We all need suicide-proof vests. The main sources of hope seem to revolve around interventions from government, family and society. Unfortunately, there are only two industries in Nigeria right now: government and schools. It is an aberration that the government is the largest employer of labour and cannot even absorb everyone; it is a sign that its economic programmes are anything but working. Many factories have closed down because of the economy. Many people have lost their jobs, and worse, many young ones have less hope of being employed. On the other hand, schools are training and bringing out graduates in their thousands each year, bringing us to the point where we have all these graduates who are all dressed up, and nowhere to go.

    The government must firm up its economic policies to allow the private sector regain its strength. A vibrant economy is one that is run by the private sector. The government must recalibrate the economy in such a way that the factories will run again. Otherwise, the work force that we are training today and not using in these graduates will certainly explode someday.

    The family needs to also find itself again. It is lost, presently. Too many families are too fractured to make any meaningful impact in their member’s lives, yet the family is the bulwark for most people. When the world fails one, the family should provide the shoulder to cry on. Not many people have that. This is why many a young one puts his or her anchor in a boy or girl and conclude there is nothing else to live for when that anchor fails. Too many parents do not have the time to nurture their young ones and teach them about the deep, deep things of life. Family communication is a vital part of growing up; children learn the skills of persuasion there.

    Social networks are also very useful for people. Friends, associates, colleagues, can be strong suicide-proof vests. When birds of the same feather flock together, they tend to fly safely or perish together. True, we live in a get rich quick society but sooner or later, everyone finds out that there is no such thing. However, true friendship shows through in individuals and we would come to have something to cherish in each other.

    Everyone should also be nurtured or nurture him or herself to believe that we all have duties towards the self, others, country and the world. To the self, life is sacrosanct and we are expected to guard it jealously. We have a right not to be killed; and we certainly have no right to take our own lives.

    How to make life more comfortable for other people rather than pursuing our own comfort should be one’s focus. This would probably reduce the level of selfishness we are witnessing in the country in the embezzlements and sectional pursuits. It is everyone’s duty to contribute positively to this country and the world at large.

    When people are taking their own lives, it is a sign that the country’s religions are not working as they should. The leaders have not provided adequate and worthy models of behaviour for their followers. That’s for another day. I understand there are up to 40-60 million people with mental disorders in this country and only 200 psychiatrists. That is 40-60 million reasons why this country needs to firm up and get its mental house in order to reduce deaths by suicide.

  • 7 ways to talk someone out of suicide

    The recent surge in suicide in Nigeria is an indicator that mental health should be a priority.

    Sadly, when people voice out their desires to commit suicide especially on social media, most people encourage them to go ahead with the suicide.

    You should know that when someone expresses thoughts of suicide, it is not the time to be sarcastic or ironic. It is up to you to help talk that person out of suicide. Below are tips to do so:

    Encourage the person to seek treatment.

    Point such a person in the right direction. Link him or her up with mental health experts and doctors. It is not your place to serve as a mental health professional but you may offer advice and support. If he or she is skeptical about health experts, encourage them to talk to a trusted person, teacher or family.

    Be respectful and acknowledge the person’s feelings.

    Do not express shock or annoyance. Rather, acknowledge the person’s feelings and be respectful. If you are not respectful, the person can withdraw and eventually it will cause a shutdown in communication.

    Encourage the person to communicate with you.

    Someone who is suicidal is probably feeling ashamed and embarrassed and may lean towards keeping mute. Encourage the person to talk with you by giving him or her rapt attention without interrupting. Never ever pass the blame on the person as the person may already be struggling with guilt.

    Do not be judgmental.

    Statements like “Things could have been worse” or “You should be grateful” or “your situation is better than mine” are very wrong.  Rather, ask questions like, “What’s causing you to feel so bad?” “What would make you feel better?” or “How can I help?”  Forget about your own problems and be supportive.

    Offer reassurance that things can get better.

    When someone is suicidal, what they believe is that nothing can get better. So this is the time to reassure the person that with appropriate treatment, he or she can develop other ways to feel better about life again.

    Never keep someone’s suicidal feelings a secret.

    Be understanding but share with appropriate relations and persons what is going on. You absolutely have to get help especially if you think the person’s life is in danger.

    Remove potentially dangerous items.

    Make sure the person is not surrounded with items that could be used for suicide — such as knives, razors, guns, ropes, insecticide or drugs. If the person takes a medication that could be used for overdose, encourage him or her to have someone safeguard it and give it as prescribed.

    Help stop the increasing rate of suicide.

    READ ALSO: Medical student commits suicide in Bayelsa for failing exams

  • Man, 37 sets self ablaze in Ebonyi

    The police in Ebonyi on Monday rushed a 37-year-old man to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, for treatment after he allegedly set himself ablaze.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the man, identified as Chinedu Nweze, allegedly set himself ablaze beside a classroom block at St. Patrick’s Primary School, Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki.

    He was said to have tied his legs and wet himself with petrol before committing the act.

    NAN learnt that Nweze, who hails from Umuogharu, Ezza North Local Government Area of the state, had complained to his neighbours of frustration and inability to feed himself, a day before the incident.

    READ ALSO: Family of five, 3-month-old killed in Ebonyi boundary crisis

    Ebonyi Police Command Spokesperson, Mrs Lovett Odah, told NAN that the command was investigating the incident to ascertain whether it was a suicide attempt or not.

    “The command dispatched an ambulance to the scene of the incident and took the man to hospital after it received a distress call from a member of the public.

    “Police are currently carrying out investigation into the incident but for now we have very sketchy information about the incident and cannot confirm if the act was a suicide attempt or not,” Odah said.

    According to her, the man is now recuperating at the hospital.

  • Group cautions youths against depression, suicide

    A Non-governmental organisation, Mind and Soul Helpers Initiative (MASHI), has cautioned youths against depression and suicide.

    The caution was made when the NGO held a lecture at CMS Boys Grammar School in Bariga, Lagos. The theme was, “Addressing depression and suicide among adolescents”.

    MASHI Founder and Convener Prof. Hope Eghagha, who is also an alumnus of the school, noted that the lecture was crucial due to the rate of suicide being committed in the country.

    According to him, suicide is not the solution to the many problems faced by youths. He urged them never to see committing suicide as an option for any problem they may be going through, be it in the school, home or other places. He also advised them never to let depression set in, and if already set in, they should end it.

    According to him, failing an exam or relationship breakups could lead to depression and suicide.

    He urged schools to enforce rules that are against bullying, adding that the youths should always talk to the school authorities’ other people in position of authority if they have any problem rather than keeping such problems to themselves.

    The Guest Lecturer, a Clinical Psychologist at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Ibiyokun Olawale,  described depression as a mental illness that affect the mind and thoughts, makes one feels loss of interest in activities and develops negative thinking which can lead to suicide.

    He identified the symptoms of adolescent depression to include chemical abuse, loss of interest in pleasurable activities and frequent complains.

    According to him, school symptoms of adolescent depression include withdrawal from school, problems with authority, restlessness and agitation.

    “Treatments to the problems listed above include, assessment, medication and psychotherapy among others,” he said.

  • ABU student’s suicide sparks controversy

    A 300-Level student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Aisha Omolola, has committed suicide, leaving behind a note in which she blamed her parents for her action. IBRAHIM ADEYEMI 400 level English Language and TURAWA BASHIR 300 level Literature-in-English Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, report.

    WHY did she commit suicide? The late Aisha Omolola, a 300-level student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State seemed to answer that question, which is now trailing her death, in her suicide note. She spoke of being frustrated by her parents, adding that she felt they would be better off without her. But some of her friends are cautioning against attaching any weight to the suicide note, which reads:

    “Just like I said, If I am no more. Please hold my family, especially my mum and dad responsible. I have tried to be the best I can be, stayed away from them just because they blame me for their mistakes and they can’t love, help and take care of me like their own. My mum has made life a living hell for me only because she is bipolar and frustrated. Accusing me of being a witch trying to kill her and being a cursed child even though my brother is responsible for my education and upkeep. The only thing she helps me with is my feeding money. I have gone out of my way to take care of my mum by giving her food and money but I still end up being her problem. My brother can’t stick to his promise anymore because he feels I am not his responsibility and I have my own family. I hope and believe that now that I am gone, It will bring them relief and happiness.

    “I am so sorry Collins, I had to leave you this way; Maryam Olayemi, you have been more than a bestie to me. I am also sorry to all my friends and well-wishers. I love to be happy but I’m nothing but a broken child. I don’t believe in God anymore, cos I can’t see my purpose anymore. I love you all so much.”

    Yet, the question keeps popping up on the social media: why did Aisha take her life last December 26 in her apartment at Samaru, Kaduna State. The Library and Information Science student allegedly drank insecticide.Many people condemned Aisha’s action, noting that suicide was becoming rampant among undergraduates.

    Aisha’s death left many questions. Few days after news of her death, there was a claim that she survived. The source was traced to a Facebook post. A photograph attached to it, with more than 1000 shares and likes, showed Aisha recuperating in a hospital. It later emerged that the same picture was posted on Twitter last October when she had an accident.

    Those at her funeral, however, debunked the claim. Audu Abdulqudus, a  fresh ABU graduate and a close friend of the late Aisha, said: “I was the main friend who carried her body the day she died at the Jamaa hospital in Samaru. I, her best friend’s father, Mr AbdulGaniu, and two policemen, took her to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Mortuary.

    “I was called by Maryam Salami, Aisha’s childhood friend, on Thursday evening  around 4pm. She said her mum told her that they were at the mortuary and that they wanted to bury her.’’

    Confirming the development, Maryam said: “We don’t know what to say. That is how God planned her death; let us just put it that way.”

     

    The suicide note

    Maryam also confirmed that Aisha wrote the puzzling suicide note.

    She, however, added that its interpretation could best be done by its author.

    Maryam said: “Aisha wrote that letter. That’s her handwriting.” Half of what she said could be true and could not be true. It is a personal issue and we should leave it at that. In that letter, she said something that had to do with her and her mother or people around her. We should not interfere. That letter said a lot. I know what that letter means, but I do not want to say anything. That letter should just be left alone. That letter is nothing. People should just let bygone be bygone. We should just pray for her and God should forgive all of us.”

    Was religion a barrier between Aisha and her parents? Maryam answered in the negative.This is contrary to what has been widely speculated on the social media. It was reported that Aisha was victimised by her parents because she converted from Christianity to Islam.

    Maryam said it could not be true, adding that Aisha never stuck to one religion.

    “Aisha converting from a Christian to a Muslim is nothing. That has never or had never been the problem because right from primary school, Aisha has been one person that is either a Muslim today or a Christian today,” she said.

    “She (Aisha’s mother) has always loved her daughter and she felt she was old enough to know what she wanted. Religion has nothing, I mean nothing, to do with this.  Aisha’s mother had nothing to do with Aisha converting from this to that. The mum had no problem with Aisha being a Muslim. Her mother has never interfered,” she added.

    Her suicide note did not tally with the picture of her family she painted on the social media before her death. While the note portrayed her as  having no good relationship with her parents, especially her mother, her tweets and posts proved contrary. On December 18, 2018 – about nine days before her death – Aisha praised her mother on her Twitter handle.

    “Ya Allah, bless my mom…keep her for me, give me the strength, ability and ways to be a blessing to her. Let me be the reason behind her smile and happiness. Please give her long life to reap the fruit of her labour. I love you mom. My Woman, My Everything,” she tweeted.

    Also, on Christmas day, two days before her death, she tweeted again, telling her friends how she would celebrate Christmas with her family even as a Muslim.

    “Ah celebrate Christmas too cos my family is mixed! Let love lead,” she tweeted.

    The late Aisha did not show signs that she was depressed. Other Tweets showed that she enjoyed her life and had reasons to live.

    For instance, on December 11, 2018, she tweeted: “God, I thank you for the gift of life. Thank you for giving me reasons never to give up on life.”

    On October 1, after surviving a ghastly accident, she thanked God for her survival and prayed for long life.

    “For a moment, I thought I was gonna die, in fact I started saying my last prayers asking mom to pray for me too but ALHAMDULILLAH. I am a witness of Allah’s mercy and by HIS Grace I shall live to see more healthy years,” she tweeted.

    Her friends described her as friendly, nice and generous. Maryam added that she was crazy, but nice and friendly.  She also said the late Aisha hardly shared her feelings with others.

    Maryam, still referring to her friend in the present tense, said: “She’s crazy. She has her ups and downs just like any other person. I’ve loved her for who she is. No matter how much she annoys me, I’ll still go there and still look for her.

    “She’s always there to listen to people but she doesn’t share any of her feelings or anything that is going on within her.’’