No fewer than 79 people have committed suicide in Nigeria in 2022, The PUNCH gathered.
Findings reviewed by our correspondent showed that the 79 people comprised 70 men and 9 women within the period.
The figure does not include the number of suicide cases that have not been reported in the media.
The breakdown showed that Lagos ranked first with 12 suicide cases; followed by Oyo; 10; Kano, four; Anambra three; Ed, three; Delta, three; Ogun, three; and Rios, 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, each had one case.
Our correspondent reported that there were three cases of suicide in the United Kingdom and the United States.
It was reported that on May 19, a former battalion commander who led the fight against Boko Haram in the northeast, Major UJ Undianyede, committed suicide.
It was learned that he committed suicide less than 72 hours before the verdict of a court martial trying him for alleged military offenses during the war.
On May 27, a 45-year-old accountant from Lagos, Folake Abiola, committed suicide at her residence in Osapa London, in the Lekki area of Lagos state. She allegedly drank what was suspected to be insecticide and died shortly after her, when her relatives, her friends and Nigerian Police men found her motionless.
Also, on October 12, a 40-year-old woman, Lilian Omokhuale, née Omoruyi Oloton, committed suicide in Edo state after scammers scammed her out of more than N300 million. Omokhuale, a mother of two and the daughter of a Benin billionaire, drank Sniper and died before help could arrive.
In the United States, it was reported on June 3 that a Nigerian man wanted for shooting his wife and killing his mother in Texas, USA, shot and killed himself after leading police on a brief chase. Obinna Igbokwe, 41, was declared a wanted after officers were called to a shooting on Aldine Westfield Road and found the two women who had been shot in the head.
Speaking to our correspondent on Monday, a psychologist, Charlie Akoh, lamented that suicide cases are on the rise, noting that anyone could fall victim to suicide if the situation is not handled properly.
Akoh explained: “The suicide rate in the world today is alarming as a result of depression, anxiety and substance abuse, especially when they are not addressed. Suicidal feelings can affect anyone, of any age, gender, or background, at any time. If you are feeling suicidal, it is likely that you have been feeling increasingly hopeless and worthless for some time.
“Some medications, such as antidepressants, can cause some people to experience suicidal feelings. Some antipsychotic and mood stabilizer medications also cause some people to become suicidal. People who join gay and lesbian groups are extremely prone to suicide, because when society begins to lash out at them, it can become unbearable, to the point that they may resort to taking their own life, as an escape from the overwhelming and unbearable trauma. unbearable”.
Akoh advised that “delay is dangerous and victims of depression, frustration and hopelessness should talk to a psychologist, psychiatrist or other mental health professional as soon as possible.
“The government must step up efforts to limit access to suicide methods and, apart from this, the government must make treatment of the mentally ill free, so that victims present themselves for treatment at the right time before let it deteriorate
“The government must carry out constant awareness in the media about the dangers of drug abuse, as well as the detrimental effects of having relationships with gangs.
“The government must review educational curricula, from primary to tertiary institutions, to create space for compulsory teaching about the dangers of drug abuse and how to avoid it.”
