A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Triumphant Youth Foundation (TYF), on Tuesday in Abuja said it carried out campaigns and street outreach on the effects of drug abuse to curb incessant cases of suicide in the country.
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The Founder of the organization, Ibrahim Yusuf, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the campaigns were carried out in the northern states to create awareness about the effects of drug abuse.
He said that drug abuse, especially among youths, both males and females, contributed immensely to suicide, criminal activities and moral decadence in the society.
Yusuf explained that the NGO, through its Drug-Free Arewa Movement, recently carried out a 10-day street outreach to educate, feed, as well as donate toiletries to youths on the street on the effects of drug abuse.
He noted that the “Drug-Free Arewa Movement, a product of Triumphant Youth Foundation, is doing everything to reduce the involvement of young people in drugs to reduce vices.
“We try to educate the younger people, even leaders, to avoid drugs because, with proper knowledge, it will be easier to avoid the dangers or excitement it generates.”
He said that even when suicide was not drug-related, there was a need for the public to be educated to avoid any mental health issues.
He added that “people kill themselves because of depression, emotional, psychological, financial problems and others.
“However, there is a direct causal effect that links suicide and substance abuse when someone gets into depression and starts nursing suicide ideas and most of them turn to drugs or alcohol to forget about the problems.”
He, therefore stressed the need for the society, particularly parents, to communicate with their children, support and encourage them even when they are not meeting up to their expectations.
“We are doing more of effective education on drug abuse so that people will be aware of how it affects humans and society.
Temitope Saka, a 17-year-old girl, died after drinking insecticide called Sniper in the Igando area of Lagos State in 2019.
It was reported that when Saka became pregnant, her grandma insisted that she must leave the house.
A national daily reported that the victim drank the poison and started foaming in the mouth at her boyfriend’s house.
She was rushed to the Igando General Hospital where she died.
Earlier, a 19-year-old girl, Uche Obiora, allegedly took the same Sniper at her boyfriend’s house, which is a street away from Saka’s grandmother’s house.
Also, Chukwuemeka Akachi, a 400-level student of the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) committed suicide too.
It was gathered that the deceased carried out the suicide in the solitude of an uncompleted building located at Sullivan Road, Nsukka, where he allegedly slipped into a coma after taking two bottles of same insecticide, Sniper.
His unconscious body was discovered by passersby and later declared dead at UNN Federal Medical Centre.
A close friend of Akachi who preferred anonymity said Akachi posted a suicide note on his Facebook wall shortly before he committed the act.
Simply put, suicide is the intentional taking of one’s own life. Until now, there were reports of adults jumping into the Lagos Lagoon and others hanging themselves.
But the trend changed in the last few years as more teenagers take their lives, especially through poisoning.