UNILAG Driver Commits Suicide After Facing Disciplinary Panel For Burnt Bus

University of Lagos (UNILAG) Worker Sunday Meshioye

An employee of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) identified as Sunday Meshioye has committed suicide by drinking the poisonous insecticide popularly known as Sniper after reportedly facing a disciplinary panel set up to investigate an incident he was involved in.

The deceased had been dragged to face the university’s disciplinary panel after the institution’s bus he was driving got burnt. It was gathered that Meshioye took the deadly insecticide on Wednesday evening a day after facing the disciplinary panel set up to investigate the incident on Tuesday September 10.

The UNILAG worker was rushed to the university’s health centre before being transferred to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi Araba, Mushin area where he passed on. He is survived by a wife and three children.Lagos State police spokesman, Bala Elkana, who confirmed the incident, noted that the matter has not been officially reported to the police.

“Although there is no official report to the police on the incident, but the deceased is a driver in Sociology department of UNILAG. He is not a lecturer, but we are still waiting for them to report the matter.”The university was yet to react to the incident yesterday evening.There has been a rash of reported suicides and suicide attempts in the last few days linked to the consumption of Snipper. Williams Oyibogare, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reportedly committed suicide few days ago. Two empty bottles of Sniper insecticide was found in his home raising the suspicion that the operative may have taken his own life.

Also, death was averted last Sunday in Nsukka, Enugu State when a 200-Level student of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), drank Sniper.
The victim, identified as Chinwendu Odoh, who is a student of Microbiology was, however, rushed to the hospital by neighbours who noticed she was in severe pains.This is coming nearly three months after the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) announced it would embark on stricter measures to curtail the use of Snipper in homes to end the abuse of the pesticide, which in recent times had been associated with suicides in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by Dr. Husman Bukar, the Director, Veterinary Medicine and Allied Products Directorate at NAFDAC, at the launch of a herbicide at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. Bukar said the decision was coming at a time when new herbicides that are safer and environmentally friendly were being registered in Nigeria.

“A date for the ban has not been announced but it will happen very soon. The substance has been banned in several countries and we cannot continue to allow it to come into Nigeria,” he said.Earlier in the week, a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) had revealed that one person commits suicide every 40 seconds around the world. Director-General of the organisation, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, made the revelation in commemoration of this year’s World Mental Health Day on Tuesday.He said: “Every death is a tragedy for family, friends and colleagues. Yet suicides are preventable.
We call on all countries to incorporate proven suicide prevention strategies into national health and education programmes in a sustainable way.”