The Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPIN) has raised concerns over possible suicide-related deaths due to the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the Nigerian economy.
National Coordinator of the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Raphael Ogbolu, expressed the worry during a virtual conference.
Development Diaries learnt that the conference was held to herald the commemoration of the World Suicide Prevention Day, which is marked annually on 10 September.
‘This year, Nigeria has been plagued by Covid-19, just like other countries around the world, and the attendant uncertainty, disruption of previously normal ways of living have tasked the resilience of a lot of people’, Ogbolu said.
‘This has exposed many people to several factors that contribute to suicide by compromising mental wellbeing.
‘We have already seen the impact of this in our hotline calls, whereby in the month of May, we received about the most calls since inception in 2017.
‘These were most likely as a result of the lockdown and restrictions; we consider this a first wave of increased calls’.
The impact of the lockdown in Nigeria shows that virtually all the sectors were badly hit and the few that could be said to be operational did not perform optimally.
Before the outbreak of the contagion, the Nigerian economy was already fragile, with the country’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, admitting that Covid-19 had severe consequences on households’ livelihoods and business activities.
‘We are concerned that there may be a second wave after full reopening of the economy, as people return to school and begin to face the financial impact of Covid-19, especially such things as bad loans with debtors calling and relationship conflicts, among other things’, Ogbolu said.
On what SURPIN is doing to prevent people from taking their lives, Ogbolu, who is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at LUTH, said that the NGO planned to step up collaboration with relevant government agencies to address issues surrounding suicide prevention.
He said that SURPIN will be organising an e-conference where invited guests who have national carriage will discuss issues surrounding suicide.
‘In our own way, we are trying to collaborate with as many agencies as possible’, he added.
‘We have approached the International Directorate of Employment, and have support from the Lagos State Ministry of Social Welfare.
‘We are hoping to build on these collaborations so that we are ready to help those who will be in that position as things begin to reopen’.
Inaugurated in 2017, SURPIN is an initiative of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for suicide prevention through research, crisis intervention, health education and early treatment of depression and drug abuse.
Source: NAN
Photo source: Dotun55
