With the media abuzz with sordid tales of suicide through sniper, it is not unexpected that calls for the ban of the pesticide have reached new decibels in recent times owing to reported and unreported cases of suicides traced to it.
Having been domesticated by many Nigerians for use as insecticide, despite being made for pest, the pesticide has worryingly found usefulness among Nigerians who just want to end their misery by guzzling away their frustration.
Truth be told, one cannot dismiss with a wave of the hand the danger the pesticide poses to respiratory organs when inhaled, the call for the ban of the pesticide, simply because some people do not know when to apply the brakes, is overkill, something akin to cutting off the head to treat a stubborn headache.
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No doubt, death by suicide has assumed a frightening dimension. But the menace is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), close to 800,000 people die by suicide every year; more troubling is the fact that the world health body says suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds.
While those who argue that restricting access to means of suicide is a well-known measure adopted to check death by suicide, they must also be reminded that attention can only shift to other means of suicide aside from sniper without a holistic approach to tackling the menace.
Interestingly, in South Korea, “The Bridge of Death” in that country is notorious for being a Mecca of sort for people who just want to terminate their lives by simply jumping off it. Now, juxtaposing South Korea’s “Bridge of Death” and sniper -which has arguably become the favourite means of suicide for frustrated Nigerians eager to bid the world farewell- the convenient solution, going by the logic of advocates of sniper ban, would be to destroy “The Bridge of Death” were it built in Nigeria.
But who does not know that is only tantamount to tackling the symptom of a disease instead of the cause. Call it an action that can be likened to treating ringworm when afflicted with leprosy and you will not be wrong. Neither banning sniper nor restricting access of Nigerians to it answers some pertinent questions. Why would anyone want to take his or her own life? Could poverty be the reason? Is it possible they have a mental condition?
The complexity of suicide in Nigeria shows that seekers of solutions must be broad-minded in their approach. It is true that the spate of death-by-sniper suicides makes a compelling case for drastic measures to be taken to save our compatriots but we must bear in mind that apart from sniper, people have a thousand and one ways to die if they are determined to bid the world farewell.
We need, more than ever before, a national suicide prevention strategy. It is time we made suicide prevention a health priority by providing easy access to mental health care. In a country where religious leaders wield enormous influence on their followers, the National Orientation Agency has dependable partners in religious leaders to buck this ugly trend.
Ladesope Ladelokun, Ogun State
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