Rising social pressures push more Nigerians to attempt suicide

Adebayo Obajemu

The tensions in the society, along with other social problems and economic hardship have not only led to burgeoning cases of spousal infidelity, but has also fuelled rising cases of depression and its concomitant effect – suicide – in the country, most, especially, in Lagos.

The most recent which has drawn attention to this rising unwholesome phenomenon was confirmed last week by men of the Edo State Police Command that the mother of ‘Mummy calm down’ boy, Mrs Toluige Olokoobi, had committed suicide.
In view of this, it was reported last week that the police had arrested Mrs Olokoobi’s husband in respect of the sad incident.

Recall that Olokoobi was the mother to Oreofeoluwa Lawal-Babalola, the little boy who achieved fame three years ago when his video went viral after begging his mother with “mummy be calming down” in 2020.

Oreofeoluwa became social media sensation after a video went viral of him in tears in an attempt to confidently appeal to his mother, who scolded him.
Back then, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu moved by the video at the time always used the viral video to send an Eid-el-Kabir message to Muslims and Lagos residents generally to maintain calm during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Later, the boy together with his family met with the governor, who hailed his courage and composure.
Thereafter the event fizzled out of public memory until the depressing news hit social media last Tuesday that the boy’s mother had killed herself.
An X user wrote that Olokoobi committed suicide in Benin, the capital of Edo State, due to undisclosed reasons.

The X user, who said he was at the scene of the incident last Monday afternoon, added that she had refused to share her problems with anyone before committing suicide.

“The woman in the viral Mummy Calm down video has just committed suicide here in Benin,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, confirming Olokoobi’s death in a chat with BBC Pidgin, the spokesperson of the Edo state police command, Chidi Nwabuzor, said her husband has been arrested and detained for questioning.

The police spokesperson quoted the husband to have said that “he came home from the market when he saw his wife hanging with rope on her neck”.
One of the most heart- wrenching in recent times is that of a 29-year-old businessman, Terver Orfega, who was said to have committed suicide over his alleged inability to repay a business loan.

Terver , then the Manager of Second Pot Restaurant, located along Lobito Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja allegedly committed suicide in a private room at a hotel on October 31, 2023.

He allegedly committed the act by drinking a harmful substance suspected to be Sniper.

His friend, Mercy Akwari on Facebook account admitted he once said he was depressed, but she never took it seriously.

The deceased was laid to rest in his hometown in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue on November 4, 2023.

According to Punch , no less than 79 Nigerians committed suicide in Nigeria in 2022 alone. The report stated that the 79 persons comprised 70 males and 9 females within the period.

The figure excludes the number of cases of suicide that have not been reported in the media.
The breakdown revealed startling pattern as Lagos took the lead with 12 suicide cases; closely followed by Oyo; 10; Kano, four; Anambra three; Edo, three; Delta, three; Ogun, three; and Rivers, three.
Borno, Bayelsa, Abia, Benue, FCT, Imo, Enugu, Niger, Jos, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kwara had two cases each.
Others such as Ondo, Osun, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Gombe, Cross-River, Kogi, Adamawa, Ekiti, Bauchi, and Yobe, had one case each.

The report indicated that three suicide cases took place in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Recall that there was a report that on May 19, a former Battalion Commanding Officer who led the fight against Boko Haram in the North East, Major U.J Undianyede, was said to have committed suicide.
He allegedly killed himself less than 72 hours before the verdict of a court-martial trying him for alleged military infractions during the war.

Also on May 27, 2022, a 45-year-old Lagos accountant, Folake Abiola, committed suicide at her residence at Osapa London, in the Lekki area of Lagos State. She was said to have drunk what was suspected to be insecticide and died shortly after, as her family members, friends and men of the Nigeria Police Force met her lying motionless.

Also in related development, a 40-year-old woman, Lilian Omokhuale, née Omoruyi Oloton, committed suicide in Edo State having fallen prey to a fraudster ring who duped of her to the tune of over N300 million. Omokhuale, a mother of two and daughter of a Benin billionaire, drank Sniper and died before help could come her way.

In the far away the United States, report had it that on June 3, a Nigerian man wanted for shooting his wife and killing her mother in Texas, U.S, shot and killed himself after leading police in a short chase. The 41-year-old Obinna Igbokwe was declared wanted after deputies were called to a shooting on Aldine Westfield Road and found the two women, who had been shot in the head.

In Lagos, especially, many have committed suicide by jumping into the lagoon. The spot achieved notoriety when a Lagos-based medical practitioner, Dr. Allwell Orji, committed suicide by jumping into the Lagoon.

He set the trend of Lagoon suicide from the Third Mainland bridge, which was quickly followed by the frustrating case of two women, whose bid to commit suicide by jumping into the lagoon was thwarted by a timely arrival of police at the Third Mainland Bridge and were rescued .

One of the women, Titilayo Momoh, a 65-year-old textile dealer at Lagos Island, explained then that she was tired of living as a result of a huge debt hanging on her neck.

She said, “The problem I face is too much for me. I want to go back to God. If God cannot address my problem here on earth let me go back to him.”
Momoh noted that she had been abandoned by those that should help her, including her son.

The other woman, Mrs. Abigael Olayinka, a 61-year old, painted a picture of a frustrated woman. According to her, life had been harsh on her, childless, poor and saddled with the burden of taking care of her husband, who was down with stroke, she said suicide seemed a better option.

Recently, a 67-year-old man, Oluwatoye Bamgboye, who hails from Oju–Ore, Ogun State, attempted to jump into the lagoon in Lagos.

According to Bamgboye, after selling his assets to settle a loan, he lost his job.

The sexagenarian was stopped from jumping into the lagoon by officials of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command.

Bamgboye said, “Today being my birthday, I have decided to end it all. The burden and the frustration are too much for me to bear. My wife has abandoned me in the process”.

Making the sad list was a 21-year-old man, Odunare Olalekan, who recently committed suicide by jumping into a lagoon at Epe in the Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State.

In a viral video, Olalekan was seen sitting on the handrail of Berger Bridge and suddenly jumped into the lagoon.

Another incident that was touching in 2021 was the case of a lady identified as Adetutu Adedokun, an official of the Department of State Services, who jumped into the Lagos Lagoon.

The lady said to be an unarmed combat instructor recently got engaged and was said to have alighted from the vehicle conveying her and jumped into the lagoon.

Depression, which is a medical condition that makes a person to be unhappy and anxious and often prevents the person from living normal life, can be suffered by anybody at any time due to overwhelming circumstances of existence.

A psychologist, Dr. Jimoh Oluwabunmi, told Business Hallmark that “A visit to a psychologist or psychiatrist could just be what to do to nip the problem of suicidal thoughts in the bud, especially, if it is mild and moderate, but the stigma of being described as a ‘mad’ person is one of the reasons victims of depression do not want to see a psychologist or psychiatrist.”

Continuing he said, “Their first line of action when they have mood disorder is to look for who is responsible and they run to spiritual places seeking for help. The more time they spend not getting treated, the situation gets worse and in most cases irredeemable”.

Many Nigerians, especially the youths are currently not being protected from despair, disillusionment and hopelessness, as over 3.1 per cent of the Nigerian population are sliding into depression daily, while others are committing suicide.

Dr.Williams Afolayan, a clinical criminologist, told Business Hallmark that “Depression is a major co-efficient of suicide, yet many people never felt that it is a serious mental health issue that should be given concerted attention to save the lives of Nigerians being ravaged by the twin evils of depression and suicide.

Experts believe that untreated emotional wounds is one of the reasons for the spike in cases of young people committing suicide in the country today, the latest case being that of a young man, who jumped down from the top of a telecommunication mast.

The Nigerian Postgraduate Medical Journal described depression as a major public health problem with a prevalence of 4.4 per cent in the global population, and 5.4 per cent in the African region and affects about 322 million people globally.
The publication noted that depression, like in other regions of the world, is more common among females (5.9 per cent) compared to males (4.9 per cent) in Africa. The prevalence of depression in Nigeria is estimated at 3.1 per cent while the estimated incidence increased worldwide by 49.86 per cent from 172 million in 1990 to 258 million in 2017. There is a notable increase in Western sub-Saharan Africa by 124.42 per cent.

Unless governments at all levels create opportunity and infrastructure for gainful employment for youth, end corruption and do everything possible to give hope to young Nigerians, who are totally down the ladder suffering excruciating economic difficulties created by the same government , cases of suicide will continue to rise .