Ogun tops 7 States with Highest Suicide Cases in Nigeria

Mon, Sep 25, 2017 | By publisher


Health

Anayo Ezugwu

DEPRESSION affects seven million (3.9 percent) of Nigeria’s population. It also affects 320 million people globally and of this figure nine percent are Africans, and African women are the most depressed compare to those from other regions in the world.

Raphael Ogbolu, director general, Suicide Research and Prevention Institute, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, who gave the statistics at a seminar against depression organised by Nnamdi Azikiwe University Alumni Lagos chapter, in Lagos, on Sunday, September 24, said depression is the number one cause of disability worldwide.

Ogbolu, who is a consultant psychiatrist, said in 1990 depression was the fourth leading cause of disability. It rose to number three in 2000 and became the number two by 2010 and one in 2015 as the cause of disability globally. “Disability means when you cannot function the way you used to function. That is why everybody is concerned about depression because if you cannot leave your bed you can’t make an income. And if you can’t earn an income it will affect your household, community and the country at large,” he said.

4 Speakers with some members of the Alumni
Speakers with some members of the UNIZIK Lagos Chapter Alumni at the Seminar

Another reason why people are talking about depression is because the World Health Organisation, WHO, said that the disease has huge economic implication by making the world loses $1 trillion annually due to the number of people suffering from it.

“Suicide accounts for 1.4 million global death daily. It means that every 40 seconds somebody somewhere around the world is committing suicide. If you think of this figure you will find out that there is no disease that kills like suicide. So it is a major cause of global death. 78 percent of suicide cases occur in low and medium income countries like Nigeria. In Nigeria, our suicide rate is 9.3 per 100,000. It is not strange to us,” he said.

According to Ogbolu, the latest suicide report by the Nigeria Police Force shows that seven out of the 36 states of the federation reported over 62 cases of suicide in 2016. He said that the highest was in Ogun State, followed by Lagos, Ebonyi, Delta, Oyo, Ondo and Kano states. “I have been involved in monitoring the trend of suicide since 2002 and there hasn’t been a single month that we hadn’t had a case.

“So if you calculate from 2002 that tells you that it is real. And majority of them are due to depression. For example, there was the case of a 64-year old man, who had serious financial crisis, his wife left him, his children left him and he thought that life is not worth it anymore. He had a thriving business and the business went down completely that he couldn’t even afford his rent. So he went to Eko Bridge and jumped but he landed on a truck that was passing-by.

Obineme

“As if that wasn’t enough he went to the other end of Third Mainland Bridge, jumped in and some fishermen saved him. He went home jumped into a well, somebody saw him and they rescued him. For the fourth time, he drank rat poison and that was when he was brought to LUTH. Today, he is alive and is well. This is just one example of the cases I have seen. So depression is real, Ogbolu said.

Anthony Kalu, pastor, Redeemed Christian Church of God, said depression could not be eradicated in the society but that it could only be managed. He said most times people see themselves as superhuman when they are facing challenges and difficulties in life, thinking that they can overcome their challenges easily.

He said what most Nigerians are passing through is spiritual depression and they need to return to God to overcome this evil spirit. Kalu said people need to rediscover themselves in the word of God to overcome depression. According to him, people’s lifestyle helps in triggering depression.

“We need to manage ourselves because there is no plan in place by the government on how to manage depression in Nigeria. We should live responsibly because we are accountable to people around us and the society we live in. We equally need to learn to speak-out, talk to counsellors and do exercise regularly,” he said.

Kalu advised that people should have a godly relationship and surrender themselves to God. “You cannot do everything based on your power, learn to trust God to help and build your relationship with Him.”

Panel of discussants

Victor Obineme, president, Unizik Alumni Lagos chapter, said the campaign against depression has created an avenue for people to realise the need to speak-up when they are depressed. He said the association started the campaign like a joke but today it has contributed its quota to the discourse. “Actually this campaign started like a joke while we were trying to start one of our monthly meetings but before we knew it we had an emergency that God through the association saved a life.

“A young man who left this country and laboured for over four years abroad, felt that it was time to come back to Nigeria and settle. He made a shipment only to be told when he got to Nigeria that the ship capsized and he lost everything.  He just dropped a line for his mother: ‘Mummy I know you will not like this but take care of others.’ That was a suicide note. One of us alerted us and through a Reverend Father we were able to get across to the young man and that suicide mission was aborted. From there we started having other cases of suicide attempt arising from depression,” he said.

According to Obineme, depression is not a one-off thing, but a continuous medical condition that needs steady attention and awareness. “Our desire is to have a situation where Unizik alumni would be a rallying point through which people who are depressed in the society will get help,” he said.

He said the Lagos State government is already partnering with the association and wants other state governments and agencies to emulate it. “We intend to develop a hotline that can go across the federation that anytime anybody is depressed they call the hotline, we respond immediately and take appropriate steps towards averting that extreme part of depression which is suicide.”

– Sept 25, 2017 @ 16:49 GMT

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