Focus on possibility of better Nigeria ahead, Psychiatrist tells Nigerians

A Consultant Psychiatrist, Prof. Oye Gureje, has urged Nigerians to keep hope alive and focus on the possibility that things would get better to survive the current hardship in the country.

Gureje, also urged them to keep their mental stability, in spite of the lingering scarcity of new and old naira notes, as well as, fuel scarcity in the country.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan, he said, “Everybody is stressed up and this is worse than the COVID-19 lockdown”.

Gureje, however, advised the people to focus on the possibility that things would get better to survive this time and keep their mental health intact.

“The hope that things would improve is the only thing that can sustain people and make them less anxious and prone to lashing out in anger and frustration.

“People should think that with their votes, they can bring about some changes and hopefully the next set of leaders will be able to address some of the problems we are currently facing,” Gureje said.

Supreme reports that some frustrated Nigerians have taken to destruction of public property, including banking halls among others to express their grievances over the persistent non availability of naira notes, both old and new, fuel scarcity and erratic power supply.

According to him, this is because during the lockdown people had access to their cash and could get things some ways.

“But here, it is not just that people have no means of movement, they just also don’t have the means to purchase food and there is a lot of tension.

“This kind of tension can lead to unpredictable consequences, not just for the individual; but out of frustration, a lot of things can happen and blow out of proportion very quickly.

“So, we are in a country that is running on steroids,” the the psychiatrist said.

Gureje said that his other concern was people’s plan for the elections, because elections in Nigeria were anxiety-provoking situations, which was not the same in other countries.

“When elections are held in other countries, you wouldn’t even know that elections are being held.

“In Nigeria, you have a lockdown and no way of moving around.

“But, luckily in the past few years in Nigeria, there has been less violence. So, all of these situations are creating a stressful environment for the populace.

“And of course, the heat, due to erratic power supply, as people who have fans do not have electricity to run it.

“I think this is not a very good environment for health at the moment,” he said.