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.
With the everything that has gone wrong in this country, and everything going wrong even now, there is no other explanation for the fact that Nigerians are not broken save an exemplary fortitude. The point at which such fortitude becomes a problem, or is a problem already, is debatable.
All around the country, Nigerians have lived a traumatic experience for many years now. The country was barely seven years as an independent country when an unaccountable civil war flared up to subject a country whose collective memory was already scarred by an 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. Beyond the shocking fate of children who starved to death, a section of the country was irreparably alienated. Today, the wounds remain as fresh as ever and the fractures just as fierce.
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 regime of Babangida which was quickly succeeded by that of Abacha had shown an eerie propensity to loot Nigeria’s commonwealth. Abacha was more than happy to ensure continuity. Many years later, it remains scandalous that Nigeria continues to comb the cellars of far-flung countries in a bid to recover some the stolen coins stashed away by Abacha.
Life in Nigeria can be difficult and even impossibly dreary atimes. Everything can be a grind, all the time, doling out drudgery almost nonstop. The simplest tasks swiftly become gruelling and ponderous.
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.
Alarming statistics recently emerged that in 2022, at least 79 Nigerians comprising 70 males and 9 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.
In November 2022, Nigeria’s population hit the 217 million mark with a large portion of this very considerable number claimed by children and young people. Yet,it remains unbearable that all over, Nigeria continues to post alarming statistics in some aspects of national life which particularly and potently paint a grim picture of life in Nigeria.
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 election just by the corner,it is telling that fuel queues have grown ever longer;the cost of living has soared into the stratosphere while there is a new kid on block: queues at ATM machines as desperate Nigerians seek to withdraw cash just as a poorly planned cash policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria remains in 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.
Many young people who for far too long have drank the dregs of depression and desperation remain perilously close to taking their lives as the reality of living in a dysfunctional country bites harder. For many of them, the only way out is to sign the eternal checkout.
However, hope springs anew and in being their brothers’ keepers Nigerians must especially look out for those who sated with life’s woes are about to jump off the cliff.
Kene Obiezu
Twitter: @kenobiezu
