It is no surprise that eight million Nigerians have high blood pressure in Lagos, Africa’s stress capital, if not the world’s.
According to Akin Abayomi, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, about eight million Nigerians living in Lagos have hypertension. Hypertension also known as High Blood Pressure occurs when the force of blood against the artery walls is too high. Stress can cause a steep rise in blood pressure and is a highway to the grave for many.
Lagos State which is only one out of Nigeria’s thirty-six states may seem a small sample size for this alarming revelation, but that is far from the case. For starters, it is the commercial capital of the country, its industrial hub, economic nerve center, innovation incubator and self-acclaimed center of excellence.
The state is also a microcosm of Nigeria, a sort of melting pot for Nigerians from all walks of life who collect together in the state in pursuit of economic opportunities under the largely valid apprehension that the grass is greenest there.
With a population of about sixteen million, Lagos, which was Nigeria’s capital until 1991 is Nigeria’s veritable pressure cooker. Indeed, life in Lagos is not for the faint of heart and for even kids born in the city, a battle is afoot from day one.
According to the Global Liveability Index 2024 of the Economic Intelligence Unit, Lagos is the 7th least liveable city on earth.
It partly explains the epidemic of hypertension in the state where life is always on the fast track with very little time to pause.
But to think that it is only Lagos that has a record level of hypertension would be to ignore the obvious. Many people do not even know that they have the condition.
What’s the relationship between the surging hypertension in Lagos, the tension in the country and the high-tension wires that run empty occasionally as the national grid collapses again and again under national greed? A lot really.
One suspects that the alarming figure from Lagos State would be much higher in some other states where people are slowly dying as a volatile combination of poverty, insecurity, and insensitivity from the government is having a devastating effect on people’s health.
There is also the question of stratospheric costs and crumbling healthcare. It is a recipe for death, and there are many who continue to die daily from health conditions directly traceable to the trauma of being Nigerian in these turbulent days.
Lagos is President Tinubu’s home state and since the last elections has become a battleground for tribalists. Yet, despite the disagreements about who should stay or who should leave Lagos, many in the state find are in agreement that Nigeria is in very lean times under the watch of one of their own.
It has been eighteen months of struggle for the government and despite effusive promises, the prognosis does not look good at all.
Despite the failings of their government, however, Nigerians and especially Lagosians must learn to take care of themselves properly. While it is disingenuous to tell people to eat well, sleep well and exercise in a country where food and sleep have become luxuries, with stress becoming abundant, there is no other way to keep the wolves away from the door.
High blood pressure also known as hypertension is a leading cause of heart diseases, stroke and kidney failure and other states should emulate Lagos State in conducting free screening, sensitising people about their health conditions and the best way to manage those conditions.
Nigerians who mostly ignore safety tips need to get more proactive about their health if a silent killer like hypertension is to be warded off.
Eating heart-healthy foods, engaging in regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, dropping harmful habits like smoking, as well as managing stress and getting enough good-quality sleep can go a long way.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
