Campaign Against Suicide, LAND Launched In Lagos

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Alayande Stephen T., Owen Gee, KP and Coach Triple A
Facilitators at the LAND Media Unveil
Kunle Pelemo, LAND Convener
Nollywood Actor, Adelegan Rotimi with the press
Other Panelists- Kunle Pelemo(KP), Pst. Victor Adigwe, Teniola Adeyemi and Adelegan Rotimi Luyi
Panelists- Remi Dairo, Eniola Adeniji, Owen Gee and Kunle Pelemo (KP)

 

 

…As Comedian, Owen Gee, Shares Suicide Experience

It would be understating the obvious that suicide rate has continued to increase the world over. However, to help combat the risk as well as to support people with suicide related issues, , a young Nigerian dude, Kunle Pelemo has birthed a prevention program tagged, Live And Not Die a.k.a L.A.N.D.

 

According to the convener, the ‘Live and Not Die’ project is saddled with the responsibility of preventing suicide with the use of Research, Information, Technology and Support (RITS) in Africa and other parts of the world.

 

Kunle, in his address, encouraged several professionals to share their experiences while experts proffered solutions to depression, because, he said, suicide is so rampant that the World Health Organisation affirmed that it is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. WHO, he added, noted that about a million people committed suicide annually. Pelemo thus believes that it is important to take a conscious and sustained effort to tackle the menace.

 

Sharing his personal experience that gave birth to LAND, Pelemo stated that; “The idea and passion for suicide prevention dawned on me after my intervention helped to prevent a friend and protégé from carrying out the destructive act. At LAND, we realize that there is always a gap between the period of suicide ideation and the act. If we care enough to render support to people prone to suicide, we will achieve a zero-suicide society.”

Pelemo added that the project would engage people prone to suicide, attempters and survivors. It will offer support ranging from moral, mental, material to the psychological.

 

Meanwhile, a star comedian, Owen Gee, at the event, shared his experience about depression. which was unveiled in Lagos two weeks ago. Owen Gee confessed that he almost took his own life when he thought all was finished.

 

According to the comedian, it’s a mistake to ever think that a comedian is the happiest person on earth, thinking that because he makes other people to laugh and be happy, he does not have his own problem.

 

“In 2017, he told a group of participants at the event which was convened by Kunle Pelemo, “I contemplated giving up life when I was pushed to the wall by certain circumstances.

 

“I tried several things, but they did not work out. It was not because the ideas were bad, but the people I was working with just didn’t let them work out. Then anxiety and depression set in. It was then I realized that no drug could calm depression. There was hardly anyone I didn’t take. There was a time I was sleeping on drugs. There was a particular yellow tablet that, if I took it on Tuesday, on Wednesday I would only be prompted to barely wake up, eat and go back to sleep even before I finished eating. I would not wake up until Thursday.”

 

Other participants who shared their experiences and offered motivational ideas at the programme include Eniola Emmanuel, Victor Adigwe, Teniola Adeyemi, Alayande Stephen and Adelegan Rotimi.

 

They all expressed the need for everyone to see life as a system of ups and downs, with all of them agreeing that challenges, no matter how tough, are often a stepping stone to breakthroughs.