Fisayo Fadelu
Smiling is our elixir; optimism our anchor. Suffering and smiling, we live to fight another day. Some even say we are the happiest people on earth.
But today, suicide, once a taboo in Nigeria, is rising at an exponential rate amongst our youths. This is not a fluke, and it should concern everyone. To turn a blind eye, to elect indifference, is to take refuge in a wooden castle sited in a burning bush. Only a matter of time before it becomes my and your personal business.
So, has something shifted? Or, has the secret always been in plain view? Let us examine the truth and perhaps find a path to freedom.
How did happiness morph into despair? On the surface, the current suicide mortality trend is not unique to Nigeria. Other nations are experiencing similar spikes. But it will be folly to conclude that all instances of a thing have the same cause. I believe that our wasps have long been stinging, our resilience has progressively been fissured, our people’s suffering is now at carrying capacity. If there is any silver lining, it ought to be jolts to the conscience of our leaders, prodding them to acknowledge that we are failing our people and to see that our youth are fast losing hope. It ought to be immediate action towards addressing the dearth of quality healthcare in our nation. It ought to be renewed vigour to elevate our people from economic oppression.
By the age of 15, the average Nigerian has experienced senseless loss of loved ones who could not be saved because healthcare was either inaccessible or sub par. The life expectancy in our nation is 55 years (the 178th in the world). Our reliance on “the abroad” healthcare leaves no life-raft for emergencies or early detection. Often, the verdict of life or death turns squarely on place – being in a Nigerian hospital or in another country with decent healthcare. Majority do not survive minor ailments. What is unique about bereavement in Nigeria is that closure is often difficult to come by. The lingering question – “Could that loved one have survived had he or she lived elsewhere?” keeps the wounded bleeding indefinitely. Our deficient healthcare system leads to broken hearts and fractured minds. Yet, we stay strong, we smile, as families are split, and children displaced. The unfortunate ones never overcome the hurt. We all live in fear which we cannot openly concede. I know this is true because I did, always.
Have we underestimated the fragility of the human mind by presuming that we are an untouchable people, believing that we can be perpetually resilient without help? Our magic is no longer working. Comprehensive quality accessible healthcare is desperately needed.
Another glaring issue to examine is economic disparity. “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” Adam Smith. I agree. If we strip a man of all means to make a living, aren’t we tacitly condemning him to die? In our communities, where opulence and poverty are forced to share a fence, for a while, hope keeps the poor sane. But when wealth, as it often does in this land, seems permanently destined to stop a fence short, how long should the poor wait? When acquiring even the basic necessities becomes a wild lottery, we should expect hope to lose patience; life to lose flavour; the human mind to lose its resolve.
After all, we are mortals, not gods. When we knew a little less about the depth of our economic disadvantage, we accepted our status as the norm. Technology has now torn the veil of ignorance. In the boundless space of our new virtual reality, the light has come on. Our children see the world they are denied. They see the widening chasm between their reality and progress with no bridge, their dreams forever out of reach. They know that they can achieve greatness if given a chance. Yet, their lot at the bottom seems irreversibly cast. Is it just to ask them to accept the curse of want forever? Can we honestly say their hopelessness is irrational?
Our young people are dying voluntarily; our people are choosing to know penury no more. We need immediate mental health care intervention. Importantly, our new set of leaders should lead with mercy. Work for the people, let our youths see that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that they are not forgotten.
