Money can cure lower level depression, says NOUN VC

Abdalla Adamu, vice-chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) says money can cure depression at the lower level.

Adamu expressed this view in remark at the celebration of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Day 2017 on Friday in Abuja.

“Let’s talk Depression” was the theme of event organised by NOUN’s faculty of health sciences in collaboration with the Nigerian Psychological Association.

According to the vice-chancellor, lack of money is a major cause of low-level depression.

“I am not a psychiatrist neither I am a psychologist but I know that money can cure depression at the lower level; when people do not have money, they are depressed.

Adamu attributed high-level depression to addiction to social media platforms.

“At the higher level, they have all the money but they do not communicate,” he said.

“Go to a rich home and you will see that they are not talking to one another; everybody is on Snap chat, Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook among others.

“Experts should develop a way of teaching people how to effectively use the social media to avoid alienation and its attendant depression,” he said.

He listed some of the causes of depression as poverty, unemployment, alcohol abuse, emotional problems and loss of a loved one.

Adamu said that theme of the event was in tandem with the economic situation in Nigeria which had pushed a lot of people into depression and suicide.

The vice-chancellor regretted that Nigerians, previously reported as among the happiest people in the world, were getting depressed.