NIGERIA IS THE SADDEST PLACE IN THE WORLD???

by ADESUWA ILUOBE

On 10^th January, 2013, the dailies were awash with this :

“Forbes has ranked Nigeria as the 20th saddest place to live in the whole world.

In its analysis, it said: “The best of the worst, Nigeria ranks 123rd overall on the Legatum Prosperity Index.

Decades of corruption have squandered great oil and gas wealth, while new concerns involve sectarian violence.

The list of saddest countries on earth is dominated by African and Asian countries and the top 20 are:

Central African Republic (1st),Republic of Congo (2nd),Afghanistan (3rd),

Chad (4th), Haiti (5th), Burundi (6th), Togo (7th), Zimbabwe (8th),

Yemen (9th), Ethiopia (10th), Pakistan (11th), Iraq (12th), Liberia, (13th),

Angola (14th), Sierra Leone (15th) Guinea (16th),Ivory Coast (17th),

Sudan (18th), Mozambique (19th) and Nigeria in 20th position.”

Forbes is an American business magazine owned by Forbes, Inc. Published biweekly, it features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, and law. Headquarters are in Newyork. Newyork is a city in the United States.

I expected Nigerians to raise dust, like speak out and either agree or disagree, so I could make my conclusions before thinking about writing this. However, I guess our silence is an admittance.

I do not really want to care right now who is behind Forbes, or what informs their decisions as to their rankings, but I really and most defiantly disagree that Nigeria, my country is a sad place.

To be sad or happy is not a feeling that is dependent on tangible things or situations, it’s a decision!

Oh yes! Nigeria is besieged with corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, flagrant disregard of rule of law, economic mismanagement, security issues, darkness orchestrated by PHCN…and would my fellow Nigerians list on! Amen!

Well, when I look around me, I do not see sad Nigerians mostly, I see disappointed Nigerians. Nigerians are disappointed but far from sad, I see us striving each day to make an impact, thankful for life. Nigerians love life and even the government and its inactions is not enough to make Nigerians give up. I know a lot of Nigerians have lost their lives and loved ones to bad leadership, but we still move on.

To be sad is extreme. Wikipedia says :

“Sadness is emotional pain associated with, or characterized by feelings of disadvantage, loss, despair, helplessness and sorrow. These feelings of certain things are usually negative. When one is sad, people often become less outspoken, less energetic, and emotional. Crying is often, but not necessarily, an indication of sadness.

Sadness can be viewed as a temporary lowering of mood, whereas depression is more chronic.

Sadness is one of Paul Ekman's "six basic emotions –happy sad, angry, surprised, afraid, disgusted …"

Being the 20^th saddest place to live in the world, and looking at the above definition,one would have expected Nigeria to be heavily characterized with suicide deaths and depression. Sadness can make one want to give up on life, if you disagree please do a quick survey. So, I went online and looked up World Health Organisation's (WHO) statistics for ‘suicides rates by country’, lo and behold! Nigeria didn’t make the list at all. South Korea is 1^st on the list, China 6^th, United states 34^th, United Kingdom 38^th, Denmark 36^th, Sweden 35^th, Canada 39^th,  Norway 91^st, all out of a total list of 107 countries.

The same WHO did a recent study in 2011 as to what countries have the highest rate of depression:

“The study, sponsored by the World Health Organization, found that 21 percent of people in France and 19.2 percent of people in the U.S. reported having an extended period of depression within their lifetime. On average, 15 percent of people in high-income countries reported having an episode, compared with 11 percent in low-income countries, according to the study, published July 25 in the journal BMC Medicine.

Depression affects nearly 121 million people worldwide and is the second leading contributor to shorter lifespan and poor health for individuals 15-44 years of age, according to the Geneva-based WHO. The higher percentage of depression reported by people in wealthier countries may reflect differences in societal expectations for a good life, said study co-author Ronald Kessler.

“There are a lot of people in the U.S. who say they aren’t satisfied with their lives,” Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “U.S. expectations know no bounds and people in other countries are just happy to have a meal on the table.”

Now, am not saying we should be happy not being termed as a as a wealthy country or that we should be happy the way things are in Nigeria or we should fold our arms and not do anything to help the situation. I an just trying to buttress the fact that that contentment is a major key to happiness. 

Okay, so maybe we are sad and we are using other means to cover up our pain, means like hard drugs (I went that far in my thoughts). So I checked for the countries with the most use of hard drugs and found this out :

“In spite of the most stringent drug policies and punitive laws in the world, the United States also has the highest levels of lifetime illegal cocaine and marijuana use, according to a study of more than 54,000 people in 17 countries.

The United States also has the highest rate of lifetime tobacco use but comes in third in alcohol use, behind the Ukraine and Germany. The study, by Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) and colleagues, is based on the World Health Organization's Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).

Cocaine and Marijuana Use: The survey, which asked participants about their lifetime cocaine, marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use, found that 16.2% of people in the United States have used cocaine at some point during their lives. This rate was almost four times the rate of the second-place country, New Zealand, where 4.3% said they had tried cocaine.

The researchers also found that 42.4% of people in the United States reported marijuana use during their lifetime. New Zealand was second with 41.9%, but the two countries were far ahead of the other 15 in lifetime marijuana use.”

So, my dear Nigerians, in as much as we are facing a lot of negativities, we are not sad. We are the most grateful people around who are thankful for life, we are most receptive, we don’t do racism, even though religiousity not spirituality is being more emphasised these days, we still have a measure of regard for GOD. We can still party, buy aso-ebis not because we are very buoyant, but because we know the essence of support and even if we can not buy , we go for occasions and enjoy ourselves. We don’t have high rates of alcoholism and addictions so much that ‘Associations for Alcoholics’ societies are almost extinct in our country. We are not mostly found to be high on heroine because we cherish memories and are not looking for ways to escape.

Most importantly, we are a people of hope!!!!

So I strongly advise that we stop taking in every rating we see and to stop applying these ratings to our selves. Happiness is a feeling of contentment. Money (good things of life… you can make your list)  or the prescence of it would not make you happier. Yes, other countries are doing well but they fought for it. many Nigerians are yet to find a reason out of a lot of reasons to speak up for their country let alone fight. We aid the world in under developing us by admitting to everything and seeking to run to them. The money and good life we are running to go and experience in some of these countries, is here in Nigeria and even in abundance, so much that they do not want us to leave their apron-strings so we would not see clearly to fully enjoy the blessings in this country. 

By the way, Norway ranks the happiest with Denmark (2nd) and Sweden (3rd) closely behind. Canada ranks at 6th, The US at 12th and UK 13^th. From the foregoing statistics, do you agree with this?

GOD bless Nigeria.