Kunle is an undergraduate who has been struggling with severe depression. He does not recognize that he is depressed but struggles to find any joy in life anymore. Contrary to common assumptions, nothing terrible was happening to him. He had a comfortable job, earned well and had a supportive family – parents and siblings. He just couldn’t shake the feeling of misery, and his performance began to drop at work. His supervisor told him to take 2 weeks off and go on a break until he gained his drive back. He started fearing that he may lose his job. Kunle became convinced that he is the black sheep of the family who has let everyone down. The family will be better off, and their lives will be perfect without him. He started contemplating suicide.
From the foregoing anecdote, most individuals who have suicidal thoughts may be struggling with background depression and other mental health challenges. What they need is empathy, support and treatment to help them get back on their feet. Certainly not punishment and imprisonment.
Historically, attempted suicide was deemed a criminal offence, but the rest of the world has moved beyond this over time, with increasing awareness and understanding. Nigeria, regrettably, remained stuck in that loop with relevant sections of the Nigerian penal and criminal codes categorizing attempted suicide as a criminal offence punishable with up to a 1-year jail term.This reprehensible situation has caused many professionals, civil society organizations and concerned citizens over time to advocate for a change in the laws.
The Asido Foundation was very active in the campaign to decriminalize attempted suicide from our legal statutes, with a relentless media campaign to generate public awareness as well as push for reforms. The Foundation also joined hands with other champions as part of the Nigerian Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group (NSPAWG), led by Prof Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, an eminent Psychiatrist and former President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria. This was in partnership with the global Suicide Prevention Giant, Lifeline International (LLI).
The NSPAWG had brought together a pool of concerned stakeholders including legal practitioners, civil society organizations, mental health professionals and other concerned citizens and developed a draft Suicide Decriminalization Bill which was presented to the officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare at a Suicide Prevention Conference in Abuja, Nigeria in 2024. Concurrently, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had also developed a National Suicide Strategic Framework (2023–2030) and launched in 2024. The Associations of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) and Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychologists (NACP) have also been active in pushing for the decriminalization of attempted suicide in Nigeria.
The Asido Foundation also paid an advocacy courtesy visit to the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, led by her Chairman, Board of Trustees, Chief Meka Olowola and the Founder, Prof Jibril Abdulmalik in May 2024. The thrust of the visit was to solicit for his support to decriminalize attempted suicide from our legal statutes. We are very grateful to the Attorney General for his warm audience as well as his promise to engage with his Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Counterpart, Prof Mohammed Pate to work toward this goal.
All of these efforts by multiple players over time have now reached a crescendo with the recent announcement by the Honorable Coordinating Minister for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Mohammed Pate, that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Federal Executive Council has approved an Executive Bill to amend the Mental Health Act of 2021 and thereby decriminalize attempted suicide in Nigeria.
While we welcome this announcement as a significant shift of momentum and a giant step forward, we must reiterate that a long journey to implementation still lies ahead. It is not yet uhuru. The Executive bill when prepared, will be sent to the National Assembly for consideration and ratification. This requires concerted vigilance and persistence.
Secondly, when it is passed into law and the amendment effected, we will then move to the critical phase of ensuring that all State Houses of Assembly also amend their relevant laws to expunge the relevant clauses in both the penal and criminal code that criminalizes attempted suicide in their respective states.
Finally, a major source of concern is the fact that the Mental Health Act of 2021, that the FG seeks to amend, was signed into law in January 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari but is yet to be implemented. For instance, a low hanging requirement of the MHA 2021 is that a Department of Mental Health should be created at both Federal and State Ministries of Health. This has not yet happened. Mental Health at federal level remains a programme, while many states do not even have a mere mental health desk or any officer tasked with mental health matters. Thus, all hands must remain on deck and advocacy sustained to ensure things truly change for the better and implementation is followed through. Only then can we truly roll out the drums to celebrate.
