By Samuel Alonge
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Like rivulets trickling down the cottage rack, alarmed neighbours and rescue workers, all headed in the direction of the Lagos Lagoon at the Lekki Link Bridge area. A distress call had just been made that a young man who was later identified as Kingsley Gabriel, a student of the Lagos State University, plunged into the lagoon.

Gabriel reportedly jumped to sure death, from Falomo Bridge, into the lagoon, leaving no one with a cue as to why he took his life. Shockingly, however, this sad occurrence came barely a month after an unidentified woman on the wheel, suddenly stopped short midway into the Third Mainland Bridge, and climbed the bridge’s barricade, taking a plunge into the lagoon. Bewildered observers could only mutter, “Why?”

Sometime ago too, a young female banker in Ughelli, Delta State, simply hanged herself, having been wrenched by the trauma arising from sighting her husband bedding another woman in their matrimonial home.

Last year too, a teenage girl, named Loveth, had chosen the path of suicide following what she considered an abysmal performance in her Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s Joint Matriculation Examination. She scored 160, of the 400 total marks. According to reports, Loveth surreptitiously hatched the last plot as she took her life, drinking a poisonous substance.

However, while so many reasons have been advanced for the various cases of suicide as have occurred globally, its preponderance in the Nigerian society has somewhat brought on, a disquiet, to warrant the intervention of rights bodies, care givers and relevant government agencies.

While excruciating poverty, jilting, sundry insolvency, and what some call, ‘spiritual attacks’ are being adduced to the incidence of suicide, researchers also say that loneliness, which inexorably results in depression and a sense of rejection, is also a veritable factor for committing suicide. Much as every suicide is adjudged to have been precipitated by a particular reason, most of the suicide cases in Nigeria, observers say, occurred with no suicide notes.

A poignant instance of this scenario was the shocking suicide of a former Peoples Democratic Party senatorial candidate in the Lagos East senatorial district, Alade Abaniwonda, which occurred in July 2011.

An ebullient Abaniwonda reportedly did a bank transaction at the Lagos Island area and told his driver to head him to his office at the CMS area. But while on the Carter Bridge, he reportedly ordered his driver to stop and park. The confused lad did. Abaniwonda walked out and was crest-fallen on the bridge’s railing, apparently contemplating on what to do. He entered back into the car, refusing to offer any explanation for this weird act.

As further related by the driver, Abaniwonda later commanded the former to park again at the Marina section of the Lagoon, saying he was hard pressed and would want to use the toilet. This, of course, was a ploy. Having alighted from the vehicle, Abaniwonda walked briskly to the bank of the lagoon and took a plunge. His lifeless body was to be discovered three days after.

Arising from all these suicide cases, which are, indeed, not peculiar to Nigeria, a conglomerate of care-giving groups, rights bodies and entertainment outfits in Africa have now coalesced into a united body, launching a one-year-long campaign against suicide, in Africa.

Codenamed, “Africa Project Against Suicide (APAS) and tagged ‘Stay Alive Africa’, these developmental campaigns will be taken to all African countries, but 10 nations are to serve as take-off points.

 Recently, however, the campaigns began in South Africa, amid emotive narratives of how precious lives were lost under circumstances that could be salvaged.

Floated under the APAS, the conference against suicide took place at the Association for the Physically Disabled (APD) hall in Polokwane, Limpopo Province, South Africa, and was reputed by its organisers as a great meeting of African leaders from different sectors, “all interested in the prevention of suicide in the continent.”

Relating the event in a statement made available to The Hope, the APAS Educator, a Kenyan native and professor at Daystar University, Nairobi, Kenya, Mrs. Tabitha Ogango, said participants were drawn from Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

Rationalising the philosophy behind the concept, Ogango stated, “Suicide is the act or an instance of taking one’s life voluntarily and intentionally, and the presentations and discussions at the event were extremely informative and thought-provoking.”

 She stressed, “The global statistics and those from different countries and sectors shared paintedpictures of a looming epidemic that needs quick and systematic intervention.

 “Suicide rates are highest in Asia and Eastern Europe. In much of the world, suicide is stigmatised and condemned for religious or cultural reasons.

 “In some countries, suicidal behaviour is a criminal offence punishable by law. Suicide is, therefore, often a secretive act, surrounded by taboo, and may be unrecognised, misclassified or deliberately hidden in official records of death.”

She cited statistics from Africa, showing a rising occurrence and hence, the need to begin to actively engage with the war against suicide.

 Meanwhile, the conference opened with very moving accounts by several participants who had attempted suicide in the past. This thus set the tone for the rest of the conference, as participants analysed the current situation, discussing the root causes of suicide and finally, proffering solutions, in terms of curbing the crime.

 From personal accounts on the occasion, it seemed clear that issues that pushed people into committing suicide had their foundations in family matters, school situations, and people’s inability to deal with the stress of life, presented in various settings, among others.

The conference also resolved to work, in every sector, to keep Africa alive, with the motto, “Stay Alive.” Songs, it stated, have been composed that will be used to carry this message across.

 “One is an Anthem by Daniel Madalanga, the East Africa Regional Coordinator (of APAS) and the other is a more contemporary style’s, pieced together by Honey Olawale, the International Director of APAS.

 “As we move on, it is clear that we need to keep talking about suicide, be alert and reach out to any around us that may be in distress; and we also need to redefine success, so that we deflate the pressure the modern definition of success places on people.

 “It is clear that this is the right time to focus on prevention of suicide before the matter gets out of hand,” the APAS prodded.

Meanwhile, following the take-off of the campaign against suicide in South Africa, other African countries slated for the year-long activities, apart from Nigeria, include Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Gambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Mauritius.

Speaking on the philosophy behind the anti-suicide campaign, however, Olawale, the Nigerian-born International Director of APAS, said, “Owing to economic challenges and other social vices within the continent of Africa, the rate of suicide had risen very sharply between year 2016 and 2017; and the statistics of this deadly scourge has even reached an alarming rate now, hence the need to use training conferences and music as tools of discouragement to suicide.”

 He listed the causes of suicide to include loneliness, psychiatric illness such as depression and bipolar disorder, economic recession, domestic conflicts, low self-esteem, unbearable emotion and physical pain, substance abuse, and significant losses in a person’s life.

 On the mission of the anti-suicide crusaders, Olawale disclosed, “This project is meant to spread songs of hope across Africa and turn the heart of the downcast and depressed people from suicide, and also, depict the great destiny that is ahead of this continent.”

 He stressed, however, that the aims and objectives of the concerting groups were to unite the African people, show the beauty of the continent’s rich cultures, let the people know what they will miss here on earth if they take their lives, and sing songs of encouragement and tell the stories of the people who have endured and stayed alive and are successful.

According to him, the two-pronged, expected result of the year-long events, are: reduction in the level of suicide, and unification of the African people.