Suicide is not an option

Sir: The world over, Nigerians are renowned for their remarkable fortitude. Whether at home or abroad, Nigerians are known to show grit and grind their teeth as they glide through situations that would ordinarily prove the undoing of others.

All around the country, Nigerians have lived traumatic experiences for many years. The country was barely seven years as independent country when an unaccountable civil war flared up to subject a country whose collective memory was already scarred by exploitative colonialism to more trauma.

At the end of the three-year-long war of attrition, more than a million people had been lost or displaced. Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 was supposed to herald some kind of respite for the country from the multifaceted atrocities suffered in the days when army officers swapped their barracks for the chaos of the corridors of power.

The country’s burdensome bureaucracy usually bears down on citizens like a ravenous bear while even the simplest decisions are as ponderous as they come. All these go a long way in reducing the quality of life in Nigeria.
KeneObiezu Twitter: @kenobiezu

Alarming statistics recently emerged that in 2022, at least 79 Nigerians comprising 70 males and nine females, committed suicide in the country and outside the country. These figures only captured the stories of suicide that walked their way into the media which invariably means that the casualties of suicide were much higher than the deceptive figure of 79 suggested.

But why do people kill themselves? Or put more specifically, why do Nigerians kill themselves? Many Nigerians are deeply religious. So, no matter how tough things get for them at any point in time, they always find something to hold on to no matter how fragile. When nothing is found to hold on to and a person goes to the extreme length of taking their lives, it suggests an impossible situation.

The conditions in Nigeria are not ideal at all. They have never been in a long time. With the 2023 general elections, cost of living has soared into the stratosphere while there is a new kid on the block: queues at ATM points as desperate Nigerians seek to withdraw cash just as a poorly planned cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria remains on life support.

But the answer to life’s many problems is not to take life itself. It never is, it never has been and it never will. In a country where life expectancy remains scandalously low while many people hit rock bottom with depression and other mental illnesses, there is an inescapable conclusion that many Nigerians are not getting the support that they need as life serves them a battering ram.

However, hope springs anew and in being their brothers’ keepers Nigerians must especially look out for those who are about to jump off the cliff.