Valentine Inagbor

Suicide remains a significant global public health concern, accounting for nearly 800,000 deaths annually and affecting millions more through suicide attempts. The phenomenon is influenced by a complex interplay of psychological, socio-economic, cultural, and religious factors. In Nigeria, perceptions of suicide are deeply shaped by cultural traditions and religious beliefs, particularly among the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. This study examines the Igbo perception of suicide, exploring how traditional beliefs, communal values, and the influence of Christianity shape attitudes toward suicidal behavior. Drawing on existing literature, the study highlights the traditional Igbo view of suicide as an abomination that disrupts the relationship between the living, the ancestors, and the spiritual world. Such beliefs contribute to strong social stigma, affecting both the deceased and their families. The paper further discusses the implications of these perceptions for suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and support-seeking behaviors within Igbo communities. Understanding these cultural perspectives is essential for developing culturally sensitive approaches to suicide prevention and mental health interventions in Nigeria.

Christianity as a religion through the help of early armchair scholars and missionaries has painted many of the African traditional religious practices with derogatory names like: fetish, heathen, pagan, and cruel without realizing that their practices are no different from that Africans, clear example is the idea of ancestors and saints. While many contemporaryChristian’s sees saints as holy, pure, righteous and heavenly, they see and regard ancestors as demonic, evil and devil’s tools. Hence, they pay respect and show no regard to their ancestors. Saints just like ancestors are morally dead people whose attitudes while alive have accorded them respect of people, however, due to religious differences and worldviews, these religious figures have been approached with diverse understanding, placing one above the other, treating one respectably while despising the other. On the backdrop, this research work was designed to lucidly examine the concept of ancestors in Agenebode and saints in Roman Catholic Church. This work employed the descriptive methodology. In order to ascertain reliable data, various methods of data collection were employed; Literatures were reviewed, journal articles and internet were also consulted. This work finally revealed that saints and ancestors have a level of similarities like serving as intermediaries in the two religions, and they also have their peculiarities