Experiencing abuse, childhood trauma in Nigeria Mental health system in Nigeria, One sin too many

By Caleb Onah

The Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria, looks peaceful from the outside, but inside this centuries-old facility – one of six psychiatric centres in Lagos and one run by the federal government of Nigeria – tensions are high. At the outpatient clinic, an experience I will never forget as a young mental health counsellor fresh out of college. The line of people waiting to see the doctors was so large that it spilled out into the corridor. The number of cases is so overwhelming that Dr. Adegbaju, a psychiatrist and other mental health professionals rushed to take care of an agitated patient, who had to sleep in the hospital for the past two days. In the emergency room, a patient named Jide languished in queues since 7 a.m.

It wasn’t noon yet at Yaba Hospital’s Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, but business went on as usual. Since 2018, the hospital has seen a more than 20% increase in the number of new patients suffering from various types of mental illness, and a 60% increase in the number of patients struggling with drug addiction, alcoholism and cravings for other psychoactive drugs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 4 Nigerians (approximately 50 million people) suffers from some form of mental illness. Not long ago, the President of the Psychiatric Association of Nigeria (APN), Taiwo Obindo, noted in September 2022 that more than 60 million Nigerians suffer from mental illness. Obindo and the head of the Department of Psychiatry at the West African Medical College of the Nigerian branch told the Nigerian News Agency (NAN) in Abuja one Sunday.

“Mental health care is in bad shape as we have over 60 million Nigerians with various mental illnesses and only 10% of them can get proper care, we end up with over 90% of people unable to access care, and this group is called the mental illness treatment gap,” says Obindo. He said this gap stems from a variety of factors, such as a lack of understanding in which people don’t have accurate information about the causes and treatment of mental illnesses. The 2023 World Population Assessment shows that Nigeria, the sixth largest country in the world with 222,666,814 people, has the highest number of depression cases in Africa and ranks 15th in the world in terms of suicide frequency, according to WHO. There are fewer than 150 psychiatrists in this country of 200 million people, and WHO estimates that less than 10% of Nigerians with mental disorders have access to the care they need.

A study conducted by the African Institute in collaboration with EpiAFRIC found that many Nigerians still associate mental illness with demons, witchcraft and related supernatural causes. This misconception leads many people to seek treatment from religious leaders, healers, and the like. According to Nigerian mental health expert Aisha Bubah, “People have no idea about mental health and its origin but presume faith, superstitious belief and evil. And people’s ideas about mental health are always extreme cases”. In 2019, Human Rights Watch reported that thousands of people with mental illness live in shacks in facilities designed for treatment, often run by missionaries. These centres are the only option available to many families.

The people of Nigeria have to live with the unresolved, multigenerational traumas caused by the legacy of slavery and colonialism, as well as the daily struggles for sustenance and survival, and lack of full access to psychosocial services. As we’ve seen before, our overworked psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social and other healthcare workers who have yet to succumb to the effects of brain drain, condemning funding shortages and a shrinking workforce.

Psychological treatments are also very expensive, and in addition, private psychologists are expensive, health insurance does not cover the cost of mental health treatment, and other comprehensive techniques are not common. However, decades after mental health regulatory reforms were delayed in legislative chambers with failed overhaul efforts in 2003 and 2013; President Muhammadu Buhari finally signed into law the Harmonised Mental Health Bill through both Houses of Parliament in January 2023. The signing appears to be a parting gift to Nigerians from the President who is also the first Post-Independence Mental Health Act/Act and will also replace the Insanity Act 1958. The new law emphasises the rights of people with mental disorders and addictions, such as the right to basic and constitutional human rights without discrimination, regardless of cause, nature or severity of mental disorders, and bans the expulsion of persons with mental disorders from residence or workplace due to a mental disorder. According to the bill, patients should be treated in the safest and least restrictive environment, receive follow-up care and rehabilitation, and have access to psychotropic medications and psychophysical therapies.

The Mental Health Act also addresses issues such as patient confidentiality and autonomy, access to patient data, labour rights for persons with mental illness, treatment plans, consent of minors to treatment, voluntary and involuntary hospitalization of persons with mental illness, and ad hoc courts. Recommendations. compulsory treatment. The telling effects of isolation and loneliness on mental wellbeing, and a plethora of domestic violence incidents during the present economic hardship should have served as a wake-up call to fully implement the current mental health and substance abuse bills. However, this has turned out to be a missed opportunity to introduce comprehensive mental health legislation.

Likewise, both the World Health Organization’s global mental health insurance initiative as well as the prevalence of substance abuse among young Nigerians have led the federal government to be pragmatic. Also, families, parents, teachers, and religious leaders have failed to understand the seriousness of what children, adolescents, and young adults sometimes experience and how this affects their relationship with their children, pushing them to the brink of loneliness, emptiness, depression and even worse, by committing suicide.

Today, despite the signing of mental health laws and legislation

Besides, the suffering of many Nigerian children is appalling, hence in helping our children; threats to the survival and well-being of Nigerian children must be addressed as key national issue as they affect survival, potential of becoming future leaders of our nation as well as hinder economic growths.

Many people/children of which are victims of endless conflicts, lose parents and guardians, and many face difficult living conditions hence, should be given optimal psychosocial support in schools, churches, mosques or by extended family members.

These psychosocial interventions should be targeted at children, mostly the vulnerable, especially in areas and communities of violence, and need to be strengthened where few exist already. Additional livelihood, nutrition and child protection programs are therefore needed to address the current challenges facing many Nigerian children in mostly Northern Nigeria states to help carter for national security as well.

The future of children in “at-risk” areas which seem uncertain, with appropriate responses and joint collaboration by citizens, government and non-governmental organisations, positive results can be achieved in eliminating abuse, reducing the level of trauma and punishing offenders or culprits of all forms of abuse. Also, rapidly addressing the various conflict issues in different parts of Nigeria communities according to cultural norms and principles will help prevent impacts of trauma and other mental health challenges.

Caleb Onah is a Digital therapist, content and academic writer with over 6 years of hand-on counselling services to individuals and groups and can be reached at calebandonah@gmail.com and the traditions of people and institutions all over the world, implementation remains an ongoing ‘sin’ for many years. 10 years. There are many issues that limit the application of fundamental rights to rather common mental health legislation. These problems continue to interfere with the administration of justice for claims of rights that would benefit from expedited hearings and proceedings. Continuing to contribute to the conversation about the flaws in justice.

Aside from the technical challenges, there are constant problems and ‘sins’ we face as a nation: a lack of knowledge of governance and a strong civic culture of mental health and its ignorance of application in our society. Many Nigerians do not receive good psychological education, particularly about citizens, to fully appreciate citizenship and the rights, duties and responsibilities of being a citizen. Therefore, they do not value and do not properly understand their rights. On the other hand, the savvy few use this knowledge, authority, or influence in violent ways. For example, using law enforcement as a tool for harassment, intimidation, or intimidation. Security and freedom of movement and freedom of speech.

Our country’s political elites seem to be included in this trend as are corporations and individuals whose motives are largely based on economic considerations. In many cases of mental health rights violations, people resort to self-help, alternative treatments, and often the perpetrators of psychological abuse go unpunished. Poverty is another challenge to the enforcement of mental health rights. A large percentage of Nigerians live in extreme poverty and therefore cannot afford the necessities of life. These abused Nigerians, despite being victims of some form of abuse, are unable to claim their rights due to being too poor, resulting in their inability to pay for psychologists, psychologists, therapist, psychiatrist, mental health counsellor or good legal representative.

Though various NGOs have consistently risen to the challenge in this regard, there is a limit to which they can go considering the massive population of the citizenry and limited funding at the disposal of many NGOs. Also, enforcement of judgments of the ECOWAS Court, as already stated in Article 19(2) of the Protocol (A/P1/91), Article 24(2) and (3) of the Supplementary Protocol and Article 22(3) of the Protocol and Article 5(2) of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty mandates member states has been another major problem and this relates to the fact that neither the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, Supplementary Protocols or other legal instruments makes provision regarding the means of enforcing the issued writ of execution where member states as Nigeria fail to voluntarily comply with the terms of the judgment of the Court. Nigerian judiciary systems especially over the years are reluctant to enforce the judgments of ECOWAS Court and this poses a difficult challenge for the judgment creditor to reap the fruits of the judgment in mental health.

Caleb Onah is a Digital Psychologist & writer with over 5 years of hand-on counseling services to individuals and groups and can be reached at calebandonah@gmail.com

By Christiana Ekpa

Bashir Usman Gorau, a member-elect, House of Representatives, representing Gada-Goronyo federal Constituency of Sokoto State, has vowed to ensure the review of the Act establishing National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) when sworn into office.

Gorau, a former Senate President and National Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), SSA on Students Matters, and Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Sokoto State, defeated his All Progressives Congress (APC) opponent, Musa Adar, who was seeking a fifth term in the Green Chamber.

Speaking on his plans to empower Nigerian youths, among other objectives, he said as an activist, who knows the problems facing Nigerian youths from all angles, both in the North, West, South and East where he had traveled, he will push to see that Nigerian youths progress across the country.

“I have it in mind, this NYSC Act, I will ensure that the NYSC Act is reviewed. I have it in mind that when finally sworn into the National Assembly, I will make sure we review the Act because a lot of money is being spent and that money does not impact the lives of Nigerian youths.

“So I have that in mind, we are going to push for the review of that Act and to make sure that the resources spent there are adequately utilized by Nigerian youths. More importantly, as a young person, I have a very strong passion for sport and youth empowerment.

“If you look at it critically, the Nigerian youths are being neglected by government activities and programmes. In the whole of President Mohammadu Buhari’s eight years’ government, you cannot count five programmes that have impacted positively on the lives of Nigerian youths.

“We need to look into it, even if it warrants appealing to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to come up with programmes that will have a direct impact on the lives of Nigerian youths, and make sure that empowerment of Nigerian youths is put into place”, he said.

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Kano on Thursday presented certificates of return to an additional 13 memberselect of the Kano State House of Assembly.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Abdu Zango, presented the certificates to the elected members across NNPP and APC at the commission’s headquarters in Kano.

Zango charged them to rise above political allegiance and place the interest of the people first.

“When I came to Kano State about five months ago, I promised to conduct an election that everyone would be proud of.

“Though it has not been easy,

Alhamdulillah, that promise has been kept. As you can see, the state remains peaceful today because the right thing was done by the commission.

“Kano State is unique and everything about it comes with new dimensions. Yet, we were able to meet up to both the parties’ and the general public expectations.

“Though we had to go for supplementary elections in some polling units, which represent only two per cent of the total polling units in the state.