Blame Parents, Govt For Suicide Prevalence Among Our Youths - Archbishop Ladigbolu

Emeritus Archbishop Lawrence Sanda Ayo Ladigbolu, a Mass Communicator, Evangelist, Teacher and Theologian, who  is the Author of Suicide Prevention Counselling (Councillor’s Handbook). In his interview with NEWSREPORTER Publisher, Seyi Ipadeola, to mark this year’s Suicide Prevention Day (September 10). Archbishop Ladigbolu spoke on the causes of the suicide and how to prevent it. He also answered questions on the Yoruba culture and the ethos of Omoluabis.

Q: Sir, can we meet you?

I'm retired Archbishop Prince Ayo Ladigbolu, I live in Oyo,and I am a community leader in Oyo metropolis, having founded the Oyo Metropolitan Development Association over a decade ago, and we are involved in all issues related to the development of Oyo metropolis. So basically, that's who I am.

Q: You being a Mass Communicator, a Theologian, so what are those things the younger generation can know about you? Let's know more about you. 

A: Okay, I happened to have been trained as a mass communicator, and I have a Masters Degree in Mass Communication. I also hold a Master's degree in theology, and I'm being involved in community development issues all of my life and all of my growing up life, because I was chairman of Boys and Girls Club way back in 1960 and I led the Oyo cultural team to the state Festival in 1961 and we won the second prize, you know, the old western region. So I'm involved in matters of culture and community development, and of course, recently, like four years ago, noticing the prevalence of suicide in our area here, we started the Oyo Metro Suicide Prevention and Counseling Initiative, and got it registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and we have been operating since then, helping people with counseling, mostly in a way, as a way of preventing suicide, And where we have a standard publication which the Psychological Association of Nigeria has adopted as a suitable textbook for those who are training in psychology, which we distribute free of charge. We have distributed more than 2000 copies of that book to train volunteer suicide prevention counselors, just to help our community and Nigeria what else are we doing?

Q: Well? You have actually said so much, now let talk about the prevalence of this society, which age group is at the risk of suicide in our society? 

A: Well, Youth is becoming more rampant than the older people now, but it used to be among young people, because a lot of young people are delusional about life. They don't get sufficient parental care. They go through bullying, serious bullying in school, in their environment, in their locations, and some of them just feel discouraged about life itself, and they decide to take their own lives. And a lot of them get involved in drugs, in taking of drugs in alcoholism, which also leads to depression and mental illness and eventually to committing suicide so and indeed, I think the World Health Organization has said that the fourth general cause of death among young people is a suicide, apart from normal sicknesses and so on, because young people don't have enough stamina psychologically to absorb and take some of the pains and agonies of life, and so they just give up on themselves and they commit suicide. 

Q: Can this be attributed or related to the economic situation in the country?.

A: Yeah, the economic situation is worsening. That is the situation now, parent's lack of patience. Some parents set standards above those their children can attain. And some of them even compare their child with some other children, and they say, Hey, look at you. You got to got C in this subject, x, y, z, got A-plus. Who are you? You are stupid. You are wasting my resources. You are disgracing me. You are making me look bad. And even don't come home if you don't come home with a with a good grade, and so on. And some children cannot take those kind of bullying and pressures, and so they just say, Okay, let me leave and go and so that they have their life to live and so on. Thank god, this is reducing now, because more and more parents are listening to the counselors. They are listening to the advice that we are giving, and some of the parents, we are giving our books to them for free to read. And they are learning their lessons and becoming more friendly, more accommodating of their own children, in spite of their weaknesses. And a lot of children may be slow in beginning, you know, but they pick up later. My daughter, our eldest daughter, she's over 60 now, but when she started, we thought she was going to be a slow learner. She wasn't going to go anywhere, but she went to University of Ilorin and came up with the first class in her class, and then she changed career, moved from Linguistics to Medicine, and she's now a Medical Doctor, a girl you thought would be nothing at the beginning but we encouraged her. We went along whatever she wanted to do. We let her do it. We supported her, and today she's a pride to the whole family. 

Q: Federal Government said it is considering decriminalizing Suicide, what is your thought about this?

A: Yeah, Federal Government said that, that is the best decision the government can take if they decriminalize suicide, then it will help, because there, there are a lot of people who do not know that suicide is a psychological problem, that suicide is partly a mental health issue, and they treat it as a criminal issue. It's not the same as as drug abuse, though drug abuse also has a role to play in suicide, because some people are led to suicide because of their drug use and drug abuse, but the eyes of government is opening wider, and now they are able to see that you do not need to criminalize this matter. In America, when I was working with suicide prevention there, if we had problems getting access to anybody attempting suicide, we used to call the police, and the police will go and they will force them to open the door so that that person can be rescued. But they don't charge them to court. They give them to us for for treatment, and those who require medical attention, we take them there. Those who just require simple counseling and little support, we give it to them, and they are discharged. But here in Nigeria, if you attempt suicide, and even those we are helping at the moment, we are not  been unable to disclose them to the police because we know if we do, they will arrest them and charge them to court. 

Q: What do you think is the root cause of this, and how do we intend to address?

A: Well, the responsibility belongs to the parents. It is we parents who have set a lower standard. We have set a lower standard. We have given our children a disproportionate view of life. We've allowed them to feel like you need to be rich to be anybody, whereas you don't have to be rich to be somebody. Personally, I am not rich, but I am happy and I'm useful, and I'm really contented with my life. I thank God every day for the opportunities he has given. Me, but I'm not rich. I don't have millions, but I have enough to feed my family, to take care of myself and to be useful to my community, and that's the standard I set for my children. And so they don't they don't struggle to defraud. They don't struggle to cheat. They don't struggle to do anything unlawful, to live their lives. But most parents set that kind of standard, and the children see them, and they copy them, and so they are running for money without even wanting to work for it. So it's we who are the parents who should watch ourselves, and we should at least step back, be content with our lives, and remember those children are looking at us and seek to set standards that are godly, that are honorable, that are respectable, so that our children will follow them.

Q: Can this be also attributed to Leadership in the society?

A: Of course, yes, the leadership, political leadership, in the in particular, yes. But then, if the training at home is sound, if the role models at home are playing their roles properly, those children who are properly brought up at home will only see these things and let them go. So the basic route for our training, for our orientation, is the family, is the home, is the mother and the father, the elder sisters and the elder brothers. They are the models. They are the examples. They are the ones who have these duties now

Q: As a man who believed in the culture, can we say Yoruba culture is decaying?

A: Well, I would want to say that the Yoruba culture is alive, but needs to we need to work harder to help our children to imbibe that culture, because my culture is me. It is not  in the parade of the Egunguns or in the in the worship of the traditional religion, religion adherence but my culture is what I eat, what I drink, the language I speak, the friends I make, the all those things That interprete me, the mode of dress I wear.

Unfortunately, modernism, or if you like, globalization, has expanded our scope of viewing life and of viewing culture to the point that look at all the for example, look at all these children gathered here, most of them are wearing Oyinbo dresses. They are wearing European dresses, instead of wearing Sokoto and Buba like you are wearing, Buba and Sooro like I am wearing, simply because globalization has expanded our view of culture, but the basic elements of culture still remain my character molding. What kind of person am I as a Yoruba person? Am I honest, humble, respectful, contented. loyal, because those are the elements of culture inside of anybody of Yoruba extraction, and are we still trying to imbibe those so that it's not only our outward appearance that portrays our culture. It is what is inside of us that shows who we are, because the Yorubas are supposed to be the portrayals of the culture of Omoluabi, and so all Yoruba children, when they see them, wherever they go, no matter what dresses they are wearing, they should behave like Omoluabi. They know how to kneel down to greet their elders. They know how to prostrate when they greet their elders. They know how to respect those who are older than them. They know how to be honest and faithful wherever they find themselves. They know how to be hard working at the task assigned to them. They know how to be reliable at any thing they are set to watch over. They know how to be punctual at their duty post those are elements of Yoruba culture called omaluabi. So we have a duty to portray that to and to enlarge it and to implant it in our children so that they too can transfer it to their own children. And so our culture is alive. As far as I'm concerned, it only depends on us how we handle that culture and seek to transfer it to the to the future generation.