ALIEN BEHAVIOUR

INTRODUCTION:

I know that the above title must have caught your attention and you might have been thinking that this piece of writing aims at analysing the behavioural traits of aliens. You might wonder ‘how does he know how aliens behave?’ Lol. Well, sorry to ruin your expectations of fantasy. Let us unearth the exact aim of this article. For us to do so, we have to simplify the word “alien” and “behavior”.

WHAT IS AN ALIEN?

An alien is a being, animal, plant or thing which is not a part of the family, organization, group or territory under consideration. A foreigner from another country can be referred to as an alien. Similarly, any life form with extraterrestrial roots is an alien. Summarily, an alien is any person, thing, plant or animal that is considered unfamiliar, strange or abnormal.

WHAT IS BEAHVIOUR?

Simply put, behavior is the way a living creature acts or conducts itself. It is human conduct in relation to social and moral norms of society. Looking at this definition, one can make a logical assertion that man’s behaviour is shaped by the society, human relations or situations he finds himself.

With the above descriptions of the terms “alien” and “behaviour,” we proceed to combine the both words to come up with a singular, concise meaning for the title of this article.

WHAT IS ALIEN BEHAVIOUR?

An “alien behaviour” is simply any act or way of conduct by a “living creature” which is considered to be “unfamiliar, strange or abnormal”.

To some of us who initially thought that this article was set to assess aliens and how they behave, I’m sorry to bring you back from your fantasy world and sci-fi movies. Lol.

The “alien behaviour” i am talking about is here is narrowed down to the case of Nigeria. The next question will be: ‘what is the “alien behaviour” in Nigeria?

To answer that question, permit me to say that there a number of “alien beahviours” in Nigeria. For the purpose of this writing, i shall be focusing on just one of those “behaviours”. The “alien behaviour” is suicide. I know you might be wondering what makes suicide an alien behaviour in just Nigeria. Yes, you’ve got a point there because suicide is a prevalent occurrence all over the world. To buttress the aim of this paper, I would like draw your attention to the fact that suicide is not totally alien in Nigeria, but we are focusing on the rather alarming rate of suicide in most recent times.

To further this piece, i need to throw more light on the meaning of suicide, causes of suicide in Nigeria and recommendations to help curb the high rate of suicide.

I don’t want to sound too forward when I say that almost everyone who understands English language must have heard of the word – suicide, and as such it is expected that you should know or have an idea what suicide is. That notwithstanding, i shall be sharing an insight on what suicide is.

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines suicide as “the act of killing yourself deliberately”. Similarly, the Merriam Webster Dictionary describes suicide as “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally”.

Looking at both definitions of suicide, it is obvious that it involves the voluntary/deliberate act of a person taking his/her own life.

This concise knowledge of what suicide is, leads us to answer the question of what could lead to a person committing suicide. Prior to me bringing to the light of day the causes, it is pertinent that you note that suicide is suicide everywhere. What it means is that the cause of suicide is mostly similar or the same everywhere the act is committed.

Referring to the previous assertion that “man’s behaviour is shaped by the society, human relations or situation he finds himself”, it means that the reason a person commit suicide in a particular country may differ from why another commits it in another. Although, the bottom line still remains that suicides are committed for almost same reason, no matter the location or situation the individual is.

CAUSES OF SUICIDE IN NIGERIA

There is a plethora of reasons why people commit suicide in Nigeria. For the purpose of this article, i shall be highlighting just a few which are most prevalent.

1. EXTREME POVERTY: According to an online report by Isaac Esowe on www.business.ng, out of the “399.5 million people” living in “extreme poverty” worldwide, “16 per cent… lives in Nigeria”. It is estimated that “95.9 million” Nigerians lives below the poverty line of $1.90 per day. As of 3rd of March, 2020, the World Poverty Clock reported that the “95.9 million” Nigerians living in abject poverty “represents 48 per cent of the Nigerian population”.

The above statistics of poverty in Nigeria in most recent times shows that there has been a drastic increase in poverty as opposed to the “38 per cent of the total population” of Nigerians who lived in abject poverty in Nigeria as at “2016”. (https://punchng.com/87-nigerias-poverty-rate-in-north-world-bank/?amp=1)

As a result of the unimaginable sufferings several Nigerian citizens are subjected to, a number of those who cannot bear more of the pains have resorted to committing suicide as a way to end the excruciating experiences.

2. BAD GOVERNANCE/CORRUPTION: Bad governance is an order of the day in Nigeria. This cancer which has eaten deep into the Nigerian system has yielded harsh and unbearable experiences in the lives of the masses. As a result of corruption, a lot of things which are meant to be done don’t get done and this leaves unimaginable hardship in its wake. Corrupt leaders in Nigeria have made it a routine not to provide the basic social amenities meant to make the lives of its citizens a bit painless.

The lack of access to basic social amenities has made a number of fed up Nigerians to see suicide as the viable way out of their misery.

3. LACK OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES: According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, “one in four Nigerians – some 50 million people – are suffering from some sort of mental illness”. Quite alarming right?! It is even more disturbing that most Nigerians don’t pay attention to their mental health. This could make a quite correctable mental illness become a permanent and untreatable one.

As a result of this trend of mental illness in the lives of Nigerians, triggered by unimaginable sufferings, many Nigerians who might have taken their own lives have done so out of their inability to control themselves mentally when it comes to dealing with frustration, depression, anxiety or trauma.

4. RAPE/STIGMATISATION: Like every other society in the world, Nigeria experiences rape and the further stigma/trauma that comes with it. In 2015, the UNICEF reported that “one in four girls and one in ten boys have experienced sexual violence before the age of 18”. (source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sexual_abuse_in_Nigeria). This report indicates that more females are raped than their male counterparts. Due to emotional makeup, the male rape victims respond differently to their ordeals very much differently from the female victims. The female victims are mostly more traumatized and find it hard to deal with the social, mental, emotional and psychological breakdown they experience as a result of the rape.

In Nigeria, some animalistic-minded men have been seen raping and recording videos of the girls while they do so. Such “sex-tapes” have been uploaded on the internet for the world to see. When people see such videos, they reflexively stigmatise the victims. This kind of reaction from the society traumatizes the victims and most of them bank on taking their own lives as a passport to ending the life of shame and trauma they have been subjected to.

Similarly, people living with diseases in Nigerian societies (e.g. HIV/AIDS patients) have been subject to stigmatisation. They lose their sense of social belonging in society. As a result of this, depression sets in and they may likely commit suicide as a way out of the societal rejection and segregation.

The above highlighted causes of suicide in Nigeria have attempted to torch light the imminent factors that have led some Nigerians to commit suicide. As an individual, I totally condemn one taking his/her own life no matter what the reason might be. Taking your own life doesn’t solve the problem. Rather you create more pains for the family, friends and loved ones you leave behind. As another man’s life is not yours to take, same applies to yours. You have no moral justification, whatsoever to take your own life.

In as much as I condemn suicide, I also empathise with its victims. Been someone who has been through a great deal of unimaginable and unbearable hardship in life, I am completely aware, sensitive and understand the mental, psychological and emotional state that those who take their lives find themselves prior to them doing so.

Below are a few suggestions to help curb suicide in Nigeria:

1. The Federal Government of Nigeria should institute lasting palliative measures like intensive skills acquisition schemes and provide the candidates with the adequate money they need to set up their own production outfits. A more robust and flexible loan scheme should be awarded by the government to citizens who are already or have interests in small/medium scale enterprises. If the per capita income of Nigerians increases, the poverty rate will reduce and thereby reducing the risk of suicides.

2. The government should invest much into sensitizing people about the need to go for mental health checkups. More education should be given to the Nigerian people on the need for them to go for psychiatric evaluations from time to time. In Nigeria, most people believe that psychiatric health centers are meant for the full-blown mad people. Until such notion and ideology is changed, we are at the risk of having more mad people walking on the streets of Nigeria than those confined in those mental homes. The government should hinge on producing more psychiatric doctors and provide them with the tools they need to fight this illness in our society. Doing this would go a long way in ensuring the sanity of Nigerians and also reduce the growing rate of suicide.

3. The government should treat the rape issue in the country more seriously by devising stiffer penalties/punishments on rape offenders. It is pertinent that those who suffer sexual violence be taken care. To do that, the government needs to set up rape centers where such matters relating to rape victims are handled and the proper medical/psychological care is given them. As for the family, friends, neighbours and loved ones of rape victims, please do not stigmatize them. Give them the moral and emotional support they need to survive the trauma and carry on with their lives.

In conclusion, suicide is itself enough a problem than the original problem you are facing or trying to run away from. The fact is that in this life, we are bound to experience recurring unbearable hardships. The more we LIVE, the more pains life GIVE. Expecting the hardships of life will brace you up to face what is to come. Always remember that whatever you are going through, there are billions of people worldwide going through worse situations. Taking your life is not a way out, it simply means you chickened out on facing life challenges toe-to-toe and defeat them. If for no reason you feel the need to keep living, be considerate of those you leave behind when you die. Talk to those around you when you feel depressed or worried about situations facing you and they may be a great source of the comfort you may need.

Be courageous, be optimistic, stay alive!

Below is a Poem which was composed by a very good friend of mine: Mr. Ntiedo Edet Okon. He was inspired by this writing to come up with this poem.

Don't take my life, Don't take my life, She said to herself, But secured was the rope., Aged was its fibre, A wind flew in from earth's poles, Dangling there she was,

''Suicide''

6feet below, The problems of life she thought, Poverty is a curse, Bad governance was never the cure, Mental health issues she recalled, Raped and stigmatised, Now there she was., A summary of the case study, Who will examine us, Since now is the time, But to live or die is a choice, But the latter we must choose, Since suicide is never the clue.