BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE
ANALYSTS have urged the Federal Government to urgently roll out relief measures to Nigerians across the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, to avoid further increase in suicide rate in the country.
The analysts, who spoke in separate interviews with THE POINT, said the rate at which people across different sectors of the Nigerian economy were taking their own lives was alarming, blaming the current economic situation in the country for the ugly trend.
According to them, the poor can no longer enjoy power, even with generators, as a result of the increase in the pump price of petrol while transport fares have increased for different intra-state routes, as well as for inter-state travels.
The latest increase in electricity tariff by the Federal Government has also drawn criticisms from Nigerians, who have described policy makers in the current administration as insensitive.
Those who reacted to the hike, for instance, had said that the billing method was “crazy”, considering the fact that the units were exhausted faster even with the increased rate.
Many people have also lost their breadwinners to either the COVID-19 pandemic or worsening insecurity in the country, and have become helpless and frustrated, according to the analysts.
The number of jobs that had been lost in the last one year had also contributed to the suicide rate, as dependants no longer had anyone to turn to in a country with no clear plan for the unemployed, they said.
SUICIDE IN DIFFICULT TIMES
Many cases of suicide that have been reported have been linked to hard times.
For instance, in December 2020, a casual worker at Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, identified as Aondona Yaga, committed suicide by setting himself ablaze, owing to hard times, occasioned by non-payment of his allowances for a long time.
In October last year, a principal lecturer at the College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo State, also committed suicide.
The lecturer, identified as Friday Osadolor, was said to have hung himself in his residence at Obakhavbuaye, off Ekenwan Road, over what his colleagues described as his pitiable financial state.
In February, this year, a police inspector attached to the Owerri Area Command Police Headquarters, in Imo State, shot and killed himself, allegedly owing to poor financial state and ill health.
These are some examples out of the very many unusual suicide cases being recorded daily in the country, including the rising cases of students who commit suicide as a result of the poor financial state of their parents and guardians.
WHAT ANALYSTS SAY
Emeka Onwudiwe, a human rights activist, who predicted that more Nigerians would commit suicide, owing to hard times, wondered how those without good paying jobs would cope when both his wife and himself, who were earning average salaries, could not cope with the rate at which their power units were running out.
“We load nothing less than N40,000 in two weeks, and this is crazy. We shout at the kids to switch off lights everytime as if we are in a war situation,” he said.
Describing the situation as crazy, he said this was a time many governments of the world were rolling out stimulus packages for their citizens as a result of the strain on finances worldwide.
He said, “Our own government says they are doing so much to ameliorate the suffering of the masses but the money being published in newspapers as intervention funds are being circulated in the same circles. Show me one ordinary Nigerian, who knows nobody, that gets these things.
“Many people cannot even feed. I mean it; well educated people. And all you do as a government is make them suffer the more for services that are not even there. This administration would pass for the most insensitive in the history of Nigeria’s democracy.”
Femi Oyekunle, a retired Ogun State civil servant, on his part, begged the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to show mercy on Nigerians by not compounding the financial problems being faced on a daily basis by ordinary Nigerians with avoidable burdens.
“This administration should remember that they are there to serve Nigerians and make things better, not to inflict pain on the masses. Inflation is continously on the rise. What have we done to deserve this in this country? The Buhari government must have a rethink and assemble those who can really bring Nigeria out of this mess,” he told THE POINT.
On her part, Chinedu Umezinwa, an economist based in the United States, called on the Federal Government, particularly the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, among others, to sit at a roundtable and device ways by which the reliefs being rolled out for individuals and businesses could actually get to those who need them.
“As long as no one is truly ready to confront this government against unpopular, pain inflicting policies, the Federal Government will continue to make life difficult for the masses. NLC and others should come out and fight this battle. Enough is enough. Many are committing suicide out of frustration,” she noted.
