In my last intervention,
I dwelt on the laffious side of life. We discussed queer, funny
and unbelievable issues so as to put us jointly and severally in lighter moods.
However, I promised that thereafter, we would go back to the serious matters of
the day. Unfortunately, we are starting those serious matters from the
morbid realms; the alarming rate and indeed, democratization of suicide.
Suicide has been democratized because people of all ages, gender, material
circumstances and origins are increasingly, consciously , opting out of this
world, where several others are spending what they do not have to cling on to
life, even in a distressed environment like Nigeria. However, owing to my
compassionate nature, I will prepare readers for the deadly discourse that
follows by starting on a jocular foundation.
I want to report that for the past 5 weeks, I
have not had cause to shout Up-NEPA, in the quiet corner of Okota
Lagos, where I have been holed up, with
my traveling bag ready, awaiting soldiers who would draft me back to school.
I believe that something must be wrong.
I have called the NERC, the National Consumer Protection Council and even
National Union of Electricity Workers but I have no clue. How can I be in
Nigeria, and Okota Lagos in particular, and enjoy almost non-stop
public power supply for 5 weeks? I still de wonder. While we are
at that, with the rate at which animals swallow
money these days, I am reconsidering my relationship with all
organisations that have animals in their
logos. There are many of them like Dangote, Tiger brands and even the Nigerian
Police Force but my greatest worry is First Bank, which has elephant in its
logo. If a little termite can finish N17bn at NSITF, just imagine
what an elephant will swallow when it
learns some strange tricks from snakes and monkeys!
And now, while Pastor
Peter Michonza of New Jerusalem Deliverance Ministry, Okene has ben arrested
for selling bullet-proof water, Pastor Juanita Bynum in the US is charging her followers a subsidized
fee of $1499.99 for an intensive
four-week crash-program on how to
pray! It is subsidized because the actual prize is $1999.99. And this is what
her Lord and Master, Jesus Christ taught his followers within a minute and for
free! Anyway, I am her agent in Nigeria
and those interested should contact me so as to benefit from the
discount for people from LDCs. Another Pastoress has also asked
her single female members to pay just N3000 to buy husbands from the pulpit. Maybe, she has a
spiritual husband-manufacturing factory
somewhere. Of course, you must have heard that the billionaire kidnapper,
Evens, had been sentenced to 21years in prison, after he had been sentenced to
death! I don’t know if he would serve the 21 years before the death sentence
or vice versa. May be the Supreme Court would have to rule on that. By the way,
if we call him billionaire kidnapper, what of those ones up-north
who kidnap and are settled with our commonwealth, who even get involved in
negotiations with the FG, most often
midwifed by Gumi and his PA,
Tukur Mamu?
Anyway, two Nigerians who
successfully relocated to Canada have been sent parking: one, for asking his employer why she was not yet married at
her age and another for killing a
parrot equipped with a GPS tracker. But
the two stories were written in almost
the same words in the same pigin-english
and both fellows were deported within
one-month of arrival in Canada. Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Caveat Emptor. And then, the FGN took ASUU to court, denied taking ASUU to
court and yet wanted to enforce the ruling of the same court by ordering ALL ASUUists
to return to class WIF( With Immediate Effect)and then reversed
its order within 24 hours. Whatsgwan? By the way, what happened to the members of
NASU, who obeyed government directive and called off their strike a few months
ago? Have they received their salaries? Has the government addressed ANY of
their demands? Anyway, it shall come to pass . And then still on
the educational sector, male students in Bauchi State went wild and demonstrated against an act of
injustice, segregation and human right abuse
meted on them by the state government: the plans to separate the boys
from the girls in the secondary schools
in the states. This policy is still at
the planning stage and it is wherever and whenever possible. And
yet the boys are up in arms... in a shariarised environment!
Probably, they know something that we do not know: that there is significant and positive relationship between
academic performance and gender interface in secondary schools( project topic
for students of educational management!).
In another development, Mr Bawa, the Executive
Chairman of EFCC ignored all the
intimidating powers at his disposal and
rather became a pastor, warning corrupt
fellows and internet fraudsters that
there was no space for them in the Kingdom of God, citing Proverbs 22:6
and Exodus 20:15. Good one; but what of those who are not Christians and those
who do not believe in God? Are they exempt from corruption? The political
fireworks is getting VERY interesting.
In the APC, a letter bomb
was allegedly thrown by Party
Chair at the presidential candidate, who was conspicuously MIA (missing in
action) during the peace-accord ceremony. Lawan’s tenure at the house of sin( Sinnate) has also
ended with ignominy as he was machined out
of office by an unknown Machina, an indication that there is a limit to impunity! In the PDP, people who received millions without their knowledge( in this
alert economy) and for unknown purposes suddenly repented and started
returning their loots. Is this true
repentance or the Nwike effect?
Now that we are all FULLY
in the right mood, lets return to the business of the day On Saturday,
10/9/22, we celebrated the annual global
suicide prevention day. To mark that day,
Dr Mulombo, of WHO, Nigeria revealed that at least 700000 suicides were recorded annually; about once
every 40 seconds, with 77% of them in Low and middle income countries. This is
an improvement on the earlier record in which 79% of cases were from the
less-developed countries. However, the high income countries had the highest
suicide rate of 11.5 per 100 000, meaning
that while LDCs commit more suicide in absolute numbers, it is proportionally higher in the developed countries. Surely, The rich also cry! On 23/5/19, I observed the increasing rate at which
people kill others and commit suicide over apparently trivial matters ( Ik
Muo;Other Matters: a death-friendly generation, BusinesDay, 23/5/19). That
same 2019, I was led by the
Spirit, to discuss the alarming rate of teenage suicides with
our exemplarily accessible VC, Prof GO
Olatunde and he empowered the Students Affairs Department to run a
university-wide, week- long programme ( 30/7/19-5/8/19) themed ‘Suicide
is not an option’. Today, some of my colleagues still call me ‘Suicide
is NOT an Option’! My paper was titled ‘You are not alone and… It shall
come to pass’; with one section
on ‘The Snipper-Friendly
Generation’, because Snipper, bottled in harmless looking white
container, has left its primary purpose and
transmuted into a popular, rapid-result instrument of
self-annihilation.
Since then, I have been randomly tracking
cases of suicides across the globe, though mostly in Nigeria and I want to
share my findings. I want to state upfront that I have no medical background
and that apart from Introduction to Psychology and Social
Psychology, which we were taught
by Dr Ogionwo at UI, in 1977, I do not have any psychological background. I am
just a behavioural scientist and self-appointed ‘media activist’, ‘putting
mouth’ into ‘this and that’, subject to the limitations
of time, space, energy, and NEPA. This is also not a scientific study, with
hypotheses, regression and correlation analyses, contributions to knowledge and
other such esoteric terms. I just recorded some cases of suicide over the
years, using my usual FPA methodology (FPA? Front Page Analyses).
It is also obvious that suicide did not start today; that it is not a class affair
and that it is also not a function of age.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth,
whom some of us mourned more than
the bereaved, the story trended of Attah Ameh Oboni, the Igala King who
committed suicide rather that allow the queen to humiliate him. It all started when he was forced to remove
his cap to greet the queen at a function, subsequent upon which a swarm of bees
invaded the venue and everybody, including the queen ran helter-skelter in a
disorderly manner. We also remember the
case of Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart, who
consciously exited this world rather than be humiliated by the
ubiquitous and acquisitive Whiteman. And just the other day, (2/9/22), Gustavo
Arnal the Chief Finance Officer of ‘Day, Bed and Beyond’
committed suicide over the failing fortunes of the firm and may be, the
probability of investigation for culpability.
The firm had just announced that it would close 150 outlets and sack 20%
of its workforce. The paper I referred to earlier started with a 10 year
old-boy who was urged on by a computer game and a 9 year old migrant-Canadian who committed suicide due to
bullying. In my ‘book or records’,
there is also one 85year old woman who took her life by jumping down from a
story building.
As at 2019,
Nigeria had the highest suicide rate in Africa and 6th in the world,
while the Center for Child and
Adolescent Mental Health reported that Nigerian students had one of the highest rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts
globally . On 11/9/22, Professor Taiwo Obindo, President, Association of
Psychiatrists revealed that 60m Nigerians were suffering from mental illness
but that only 10% of them had access to medicare.
This is alarming but we may not worry too much because what constitutes mental
illness may be like what constitutes sexual harassment in the US. Maybe,
greeting everybody everywhere may be classified as a sign of mental
disequilibrium! It was also revealed earlier that for this large horde of
mentally challenged compatriots, there were only 250 psychiatrists and that was
before the recent deluge in the rate of brain drain.
In the paper I presented in 2019, I x-rayed 10
suicide cases in Nigeria, 9 of whom were students. Four of them were due to
failed romance, 5 was due to project/result issues while one was due to
depression. I shall share the outcome of
my current survey in my next
intervention
2022
Independence Day
I did not actually remember that Saturday1/10/22 is our independence
anniversary. October 1, 2022 is etched in my memory because of Movement of the People by the Obidient folks. And then, two of
my sisters who are involved in primary education, sent Happy Independence
anniversary pictures and greetings. Are we happy in Nigeria? Should we be
celebrating or should we put on sack-clothes with ashes on our foreheads, asking God for mercy and reflecting on what went wrong and the way
forward? Anyway, Well, Happy Independa to my
sisters, to their pupils and to all those who believe that we shall celebrate
this day. I hope that one day, we shall have reasons to REALLY celebrate.
-
“Find a great mentor, someone who has already been through the many challenges of being an entrepreneur..” -Jodi Levine
Entrepreneurship in Practice: Cases, Challenges and Lessons By IK, MUO PHD is now available on Amazon, since 14/5/21. Click here to view Available for order +2348033026625 | Delivery : Worldwide
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