Tunde Olaniyan, an Ordinary National Diploma, OND student of the Lagos State Polytechnic , can be described as the proverbial cat with nine lives owing to his recent  narrow escape from a suicidal act. The 21-year-old Accountancy student who concluded to end it all by drinking a poisonous substance last month , left a suicide note for his parents, notifying them of his action. Reason?  His school fees which his family struggled to gather was stolen by suspected pick pockets, while on his way to school penultimate Tuesday, an act he concluded had dashed his hope of furthering his education.

Confusion set in for the undergraduate who upon arriving school , decided to bring the N45,000 which he neatly  wrapped in a piece of paper out of his nap sac,  only to discover that  the bag was  torn  by the side, from where the money  was tactically  stolen. Calling his parents was the last thing on his mind . Rather, the dark skinned student   walked absent-mindedly out of the class room, down to a church in Isolo area of Lagos  where he  sleeps at night.

Crime Guard investigation revealed that the Olanyan family struggle for survival,  like several other Nigerians out there, began after its bread winner , Amos Olaniyan,  was verbally suspended  from the Nigeria Police same year Tunde was born,  by the Police Commissioner in Oyo state, Abubakar  Tsav, over alleged bribery and corruption . Although report had it that the Senate had on December 15 , 2016  directed  his reinstatement , after due investigation which exonerated Amos from the allegation, till date, Police authorities are yet  to   adhere  to the directive. Since his suspension as a Sergeant, Amos Olaniya has been engaged in all manner of menial jobs  in a bid to eke out a living for his family.  He is at the moment a driver in Ibadan, Oyo state, from where he visits his family in Lagos. It was further gathered that Amos’s monthly salary and proceeds from his wife’s trade was put together to make up the N45,000 needed for their son’s school fees.

Lamentation

In this interview with Crime Guard, the undergraduate lamented : “ Things have not been easy for my family. I grew up with the hope  of going to  higher institution and thereafter work   with the certificate, instead of taking to  dubious ways of making it. So, my admission letter into LASPOTECH to study accountancy came as an answered prayer to my dream. But fate has been so   unkind to me, as each time I bore the hardship, I face more challenges.

“My parents managed to give me between N800 and N1000 from Iyana- Ipaja to Isolo as pocket  money  for one week. Out of it is my   transport fare to and fro . To complement what they gave me, I resorted to work as a bus conductor.  We plied Iyana-Ipaja to Yaba . I woke up as early as 5am , worked until 10am and thereafter go to school. I was earning N700 and N1000 daily, depending  on the number of turns we run .

“But I was forced to stop in my OND 1 second semester, when it started having a negative effect on my academic performance, as I sometimes missed classes and didn’t  have  much time to read. I had no choice than to depend on my parents who were barely struggling to survive. My mother is a petty trader while my father is a driver. “They struggled to raise N45,000 for my OND 2 school fees in January. I  left home that fateful day with the hope of paying the money into the bank when I  got to school. But to my dismay, I discovered that the money had disappeared. Where do  I  get such amount was the first question that pooped into my head. Quickly,  I   put a call across to my uncle in Maiduguri but it was not going through. I tried him all week to no avail.

Thought of how to pay the money enveloped my mind every time I slept in the church which served as a home to me because I could not afford to rent an apartment like other fortunate students. I could not call my parents to tell them in order not to add to their burden. I could not call my older siblings either, because they all have their respective challenges”, he said. Bottled with the inability to unravel a solution to the missing money, Tunde managed to finish his first semester examination with an expression of uncertainty and hopelessness.

Suicide attempt

He managed to hold on until the second semester in March. But reached a cross road two weeks to the examination   on May 25 2016, owing to his inability to print out his course forms online. “I could not print out my course forms because I had not paid the fees. At that moment I became confused and  went home with a decision to end it all. That morning, after my mother had gone to the market, with my father away in Ibadan where he works as a driver,  I went to buy GO 90, an insecticide from a kiosk, for N50.

“Thereafter, I scribbled a suicide note informing my parents the reason  I had to take my life. I dropped the letter and drank the liquid substance   while   I waited for death to come. About five minutes later, the first sign of death came with  a sharp pain in my abdomen. Then, the whole apartment  began to spin. That was all I could remember, as I passed out.”

Sister to his rescue

While he was writhing in pains on the bare floor, his immediate elder sister ,  whom Crime Guard gathered  was married with two children but had to move to her parents  one room apartment at Fagbayi street , after she  was delivered of a baby , walked inside. Tension heightened when she discovered that Tunde was motionless. On further observation, she discovered the suicide note close to him  and immediately let out a squeaky noise which alerted neighbours who rushed Tunde to Omoju hospital in Baruwa area of Ipaja, Lagos , where doctors battled to revive him hours later .    Crime Guard gathered that family members and friends contributed towards payment of the lost school fees.

Needs N7500 to conclude project 

Though he has concluded his second semester examination but  financial difficulty still stares him in the eye and until that is attended to, he might not conclude his OND course. According to him “ I am in chapter two of my  project work  but I  can’t continue because of lack of cash. I need at least N7.500 for typing, printing, photocopying and binding. I hope to look for job with the OND and later further my study”, he stated in an emotion- laden tone.

Although report had it that the Senate had on December 15,2016 directed his reinstatement , after due investigation which exonerated Amos from the allegation, till date, Police authorities are yet to adhere to the directive

bastien:
For naija.... Na weitin they kill person cheap pass, imagine poison for N50, Igbo/weed for N50, local gun 5 for N200 lol




Get well soon buddy

ikbnice:
and we have some people somewhere wasting more than #45000 at stripper clubs every blessed night.

kelvee:
Who's in charge of FP sef??
Kus I posted dis lyk 3hrs ago!!! >: >:

The world that we live in is an exhausting place to be. It is wearing. It is thankless. It is endlessly trying and scarcely rewarding. You’re tired simply because you live in it. You’re tired of loving too much, caring too much, giving too much to a world that never gives anything back. You are tired of investing in indefinite outcomes. You’re tired of uncertainties. Tired of grey.

I know you haven’t always been this worn out – that there was a time when you were hopeful and pure. When your optimism outweighed your cynicism and you had an infinite amount in you to give. I know you have been chipped away and worn down piece by piece – a broken heart here and an un-kept promise there. I know the world hasn’t always been kind throughout the games you’ve played and that you’ve lost more times than you have ever won. I know you’re feeling uninspired to try again. I know.

Because the truth is, we’re all tired. Every single one of us. By a certain age, we are all nothing more than an army of broken hearts and aching souls, desperately searching for fulfillment. We want more but we’re too tired to ask for it. We’re sick of where we are but we are too scared to begin again. We need to take risks but we’re afraid to watch it all come crashing down around us. After all, we’re not sure how many times we will be able to start over.

We all think we’re alone in our exhaustion. But the truth is we’re tired of each other – tired of the games we play and the lies we tell and the uncertainties we present to each other. We don’t want to play the villain but we don’t want to play the fool either. So our guards go up. Our defences rile. And we take on the role that we loathe to see played because we’re not sure what choice we have left.

I know how impossible it can feel to go on trying and giving and becoming when you are exhausted straight through to the soul. I know that the cheerful ideals you were once promised now seem tired and hopeless. But here’s what I beg if you’re this close to giving up: give it one more try, with feeling. I know you’re tired of your attempts. I know that you’re at your wit’s end. But the truth about that second wind of passion is that you’re never going to realize you have it if you do not keep on running past your first.

We’re all more resilient than we think, and that’s an indisputable truth. There is always more love that we are capable of giving, more hope that we are capable of having, more passion that we’re capable of unleashing and flooding out into the world. We just don’t walk far enough down our own roads to reach the point where we’re seeing those actions pay off. We want immediate results and when we see none, we give up. We let the exhaustion stop us. We grow frustrated with the lack of feedback and we assume that means we have to throw the entire attempt right out the window.

Because here’s something we all loathe to admit – none of us are inspired every day. We all get exhausted. We all get discouraged. And we’re allowed to work on through those feelings. Just because you’re beaten down and worn out and sick of the life that you’re living doesn’t mean you’re not making a change. Every person you have ever admired has had times where they felt utterly defeated in the pursuit of their dreams. But that didn’t prevent them from reaching them. You’re allowed to stumble slowly towards your biggest transformations. It doesn’t always have to be a blazing, flagrant affair.

Some parts of life happen quietly. They happen slowly. They happen because of the small, careful choices that we make everyday, that turn us into better versions of ourselves. We have to allow ourselves the time to let those alterations happen. To watch them evolve. To not grow hopelessly frustrated in the in-between.

When you’re tired, go slowly. Go quietly. Go timidly. But do not stop. You are tired for all the right reasons. You are tired because you’re supposed to be. You’re tired because you’re making a change.