Banning Sniper does not tackle why people commit suicide – Runtown

Nigerian singer Runtown while reacting to the recent banning of the poisonous insecticide Sniper, by the Federal Government, has said that will not offer the solution to the reason why people commit suicide.

The outspoken singer wrote that if the source of the problem is not combated, the scourge can never be stopped irrespective of whatever ban is placed on the substance people consume to commit suicide.

He wrote:

Banning Sniper only tackles HOW people commit suicide not WHY people commit suicide. It’s like going to dry up the Lagos Lagoon because people use it as a tool for committing suicide. To truly curb this epidemic, we must focus on the reason WHY people do it.

This is coming just a day after the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC said the ban became necessary because of the recent wave of suicide cases across the country has been linked to the intake of Sniper.

The agency had earlier said it may direct a change in the packaging of sniper as part of plans to discourage the use of agro-chemical as a tool for suicide, Premium Times reports.

government to check the proliferation of, and ease to access to, sniper because of its wrong use.

Sniper can be picked up easily on the streets as they are sold openly in the market.

“We have also placed a ban on the manufacture of smaller packs of Sniper which are easily purchased for household use,” Husman Bukar, the Director, Veterinary Medicine and Allied Products Directorate, NAFDAC was quoted as saying in the report.

“Recently, some suicide cases have been associated with people drinking Sniper. Henceforth, we call on the agro-chemical industry to enhance their distribution channels so that this product (Sniper) gets to only accredited distributors and marketers.”