As The

As The ‘Suicide’ Victim Writhes…

Abdullah Musa

Let us make haste to say that one can become a victim of one’s action; being a victim of one’s greed for example. What this means is that we may suffer the consequences of our own negative actions. It is in that context we intend to discuss our topic of today.

As usual, we are interested in the happenings in our society. By commenting on certain issues according to our experience or perception of them, we may share with the readers, aspects of life which they are familiar with in totally different context, or they are even unaware of them completely; and may thus be enriched by the discourse.

From my experience, many people resent being corrected where they err. This is so even if the mildest form of language is employed, and even if there is no apparent loss of face in the particular case. We are simply more inclined to believe that we are Omniscient. Many have thus adopted the stance that they would only offer advice if asked. And many have come to the conclusion that it is fruitless to engage any in argument; you may outpoint the person, but you will never win: if you want him or her to accept you are superior, it will not be accepted; what more of you trying to think that you are more intelligent! You can be told point blank that the donkey can beat you ‘legs down’ in any show of intelligence.

Two people who were both unemployed were at one time engaged in very hot argument. Would you think it was about the way how to get out of their predicament? That could have been most excellent! Instead they were furiously engaged in the past time of those in similar circumstance over the years: discussing the rich! They would discuss their cars, their wives if they ever sighted them; the estimate of their wealth; and even their children! In this particular instance it was about whose house was more beautiful: between rich man A and rich man B. One of the rich men under discussion has a housing complex covering nearly a square kilometer! It was this estate that one of the arguers compared to akurkin kaji! The non-Hausa reader should ask a friend who is a Hausa man the meaning of akurki.

In the religion of Islam, it is forbidden that one should attempt to commit suicide due to some problem that seems intractable. Belief in Allah as the All-Powerful, the Disposer of affairs, should be enough source of strength for one to bear life’s vicissitudes with equanimity or something near that. The type of suicide we are interested in is however a different type. It is like what the political scientists call class suicide. In any form of suicide, there must be one type of pain or the other that the victim must feel and ought to endure. For the Hausa says: Tsuntsun da ya ja ruwa, shi ruwa kan doka!

What is obtaining now in our society is that many people commit class suicide. One may be trained in particular profession, and he perceives some glitters from another one, and Lo! He changes class and goes into the new, unknown territory. He may hit a jackpot for sometime, but when the thorns and nails start appearing in an erstwhile ‘Vitafoam mattress’, then the writhing starts!

In situations such as this, the victim did not invite you when he was cross-carpeting, but having been caught in his own blunders, he then expects you to drain your reservoir of pity all on him. These should be your problems: his lack of food in his house; his lack of money for school fees; the expenses that accompany the birth of the new child! Duk kai ne!

But if you are to decline, then the question may be asked: where is the Muslim brotherhood, if both of you are Muslims? We are often inclined to believe that no distinction should be made between a one-off transaction, and the other of more lasting nature: nan wuni, nan kwana! We give very light attention to the development of the child towards being a complete human being. Of more disastrous consequence, we are unable to really make our professions very strong and reliable.

The following are usually victims of suicide (In this context, suicide is seen as simply an undesirable condition which causes us pain and which we are unable to extricate ourselves from) : artisans of all classes; commercial drivers; tailors; farmers; civil servants; traders; politicians; contractors; and above all, malaman soro!

We are not foolish to think that there is any aspect of human life that is not subject to vicissitudes. What we find most disturbing however is that many in these categories become vulnerable in ages when they cannot make a U-turn. One leaves his village and succumbs to the allure of the city. He becomes a petty trader, or petty contractor, or a commercial driver and so forth. Later in life, let us say, twenty or more years from the decision point, the downward spiral begins.

He has children who might have grown up when the roots of uncaring governments were getting deeper into the soil: no free education; no free medical care; and worse, no cheap food. He as a consequence neglects his children. And if you were acquainted as either towns mate, or having lived in the same quarters, and you are ‘unfortunate’ enough to be doing fine, then he has an axe to grind with you for failing to help him, when you surely have the capacity to do so.

With such types of people, government workers are always the number one culprit: they steal public funds; that is why they are always looking clean and smart. But may be the government worker is simply a Permanent Secretary. With their current enhanced salary structure, and with possibly only one wife and five children, he may not be over-burdened by responsibility like the jobless driver who has three wives and twenty-plus children!

The gardi system should be rural- based. There, one could have access to the farms; you could grow your own food; and you could equally train the Almajirai in your custody into farming; so that when they graduate from your Tsangaya, they are not jobless. But the allure of the city is too much: we all love the white shadda, the perfumes, and of course the delicacies of city foods: even though of certainty we would have to live with hypertension from fifty years on: ai an tafi da malam Cairo, is now a common phrase you will hear being uttered when one of the malams becomes sick.

Many of the members of our society are victims of the deficient training system which we have in place. Even an otherwise attractive sector such as the civil service, it ends up being a prison for many. If some are corrupt, or if they are more pragmatic and enterprising, then any whose entire faith and expectations is on the service will find that the service has let him down; it cannot cater for all his needs.

He on his part pays society back by being totally unproductive. Even if he goes to earn some few more degrees, it does not add to his output: his motivation is for higher position that enables him to make up for his home budget deficit, while the society is fleeced. Sometimes back I wrote a memo that civil servants should be given a window to earn additional income. The memo was not replied to, because may be it was antithetical to service regulations. But the reality is that few civil servants work with zeal; talk less of wanting to be creative for the good of the citizens.

As for the private entrepreneurs, the administration of Malam Ibrahim Shekarau in Kano State created an office for NGO’s and appointed a Special Adviser. They did well by distributing needed equipment to many NGO’s; what seems to still need attention is in organizing these bodies to cater for their members even in times of adversity, or old age. Gardawa in Kano State still have another initiative in the form of Tsangaya Trust Fund. Whether the fund has been launched; whether it will address the problems of those in the shackles of neglect remains to be seen.