Former Special Adviser to Ondo State Governor on Health matters and ex-National President of the Nigeria Medical Association, (NMA) Prof. Dayo Faduyile, has expressed fears over effect of the economic downturn on Nigerians, saying the hardship has been fueling depression and affecting mental health.
Faduyile stated this during the first Public lecture organised by the Senior Staff Association Of Nigeria Universities, (SSANU), Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, (AAUA) chapter, Ondo state.
Speaking on the topic titled “Existential realities of fuel subsidy removal and its effects on the mental health of Nigerian University workers, overcoming the challenges” Faduyile, noted that the hardship occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal has started having psychological effects on Nigerians.
He noted that the negative effects of the fuel subsidy removal outweighed the positive effects, saying “the increase fuel pump price and its attendant effects on all aspect of our lives will further cause emotional trauma and torture on the psyche of those who are struggling to feed, broken homes and increase cases of divorce and suicide.
“The psychological effects of fuel subsidy removal and invariably increase on pump price include cases of depression, aggressiveness and possible suicide. Lack of income or lack of adequate funds as income is a cause of poverty.
“The WHO has described poverty as the greatest cause of suffering on earth. There are various direct effects of relative poverty on the development of emotional, behavioural and psychiatric problem.
“A person can be said to be mentally healthy when he/she is able to think logically and rationally and can cope effectively in stressful”
According to him, most Nigerians relied mostly on fuel for their day to day activities, hence the reason the policy has affected everybody.
“The government should be open, they should be more responsible to the need of the people, corruption has caused lot of problems for us, we should be able to get that corruption index lowered and be more accountable.
“The poor people rely on fuel mostly for transportation, it has affected food prices and the likes, however for the rich, especially those who are into manufacturing, who have machinery, they have to pay more, I think the rich are also affected, but the rate is at the side of the poor”,
He called workers to find alternative to the monthly incomes to cushion the effect of the hardship and said “we have to be positive about this situation and trust our government.
“The people should start cutting cost, we can leave our private car sometimes and take public transport, we have to look for other means of sustaining ourselves,”
In his address, the Chairman of SSANU, AAUA Chapter, Olutayo Ogungbeni said government should look into giving living wage to the workers as this would reduce the hardship that is being experienced by the masses.
Ogungbeni said, “the first public Lecture of this union today is a success story, I was inaugurated as the chairman I vow to change the oration of unionism, that we need to contribute to the society through this.
“For the first time, we are celebrating those who retired from this University, we have to do it to give them the recognition that they served us well”.
“The public Lecture makes us to know that we need to interact, if we interact with one another, we would not feel the effects of this fuel subsidy to much.
“The fuel subsidy has brought lot of hardships, the first thing to do in cushioning the effect is to give us living wage instead of minimum wage, the minimum wage cannot still cater for our needs, things are increasing but the salary has been constant.
“Our people are suffering. We want to employ the government to fast track the issue of living wage so that our people can smile, our people are not happy, with this lecture, I know people will know what to do”.
The Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. Olugbenga Ige, said the school management is doing its best in giving priority to the welfarism of the University workers and retirees, despite the economic hardship caused by the fuel subsidy removal.
Represented by the Dean of Postgraduate School, Professor Benson Akinowonu, the VC said, “We are surviving the fuel subsidy removal, it is a national policy, the University has taken the bull by the horn to make sure that the welfare of the staff is given topmost perority, before we have random of activities, but now full activities has resumed and our staff are coping.
“The federal government has its own roles to play, the palliatives are being given but it has not reached the University staff, you will recollect that about few days ago, the staff unions protested (over N35,000 wage award), now the government is looking into it”.
“For those who had retired from the University, management has been making sure that their welfare is being taken care of, for instance we have been paying their pension on monthly basis, but the gratitude aspect is what the University has been working on.
The University needs to meet with the government to ensure that our allocations are increased, if our allocations are increased we would be able to attend that, we want them to be patient with the university, very soon they would be attended to,”
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