•Experts say Stigma, poverty, punitive laws, rising drug use deepening the mental health crisis
•Criminalisation of attempted suicide under Section 327 of Criminal Code promotes silent epidemic
•300 psychiatrists for over 200 million people scandalous fragile health system
•Vanguard’s October 17 mental health summit to address critical issues
By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna
In Nigeria, under a colonial-era law still enforced today, attempting suicide is a crime, not a crisis. Survivors are dragged from hospital beds to police stations, charged, prosecuted, and sometimes imprisoned. Their suffering is met with threats, rather than therapy, deepening their trauma.
Every 33 minutes, another Nigerian dies by suicide, a figure equivalent to 16,000 lives a year, each one a story cut short, a future erased, a cry that went unheard. And yet, for persons who survive the attempt, the aftermath is not healing, it’s handcuffs. But suicide is not a crime, it is a cry for help.
On October 17, 2025, in a bold move that could reshape the nation’s response to mental health, Vanguard is hosting a landmark summit on suicide prevention and the decriminalisation of attempted suicide. The upcoming summit supports the Suicide Prevention Bill now before the National Assembly that seeks to repeal Section 327 of the Criminal Code and replace punishment with care.
Under watch
It is undoubted that Nigeria’s suicide crisis has deepened due to stigma, poverty, and punitive laws. Nigeria is under watch because the scale of suicide, combined with systemic neglect and punitive laws, represents a preventable tragedy that demands immediate and compassionate action.
What intensifies global scrutiny is Nigeria’s continued enforcement of Section 327 of the Criminal Code, which treats attempted suicide as a criminal offense punishable by up to one year in prison.
Survivors are often arrested from hospital beds, interrogated, and prosecuted—rather than offered psychological support. The criminalisation deepens the stigma, discourages help-seeking, and drives the issue underground,
Arrested for surviving
On a humid night in Lagos, 28-year-old Aisha (not her real name) swallowed a handful of sleeping pills after a quarrel with her partner. Neighbours found her unconscious and rushed her to the nearest general hospital. Doctors stabilised her and, as is routine in Nigeria, called the police.
When officers arrived, instead of referring her for further counselling or psychological support, they handcuffed her and later charged her with attempted suicide under Section 327 of Nigeria’s Criminal Code, which treats suicide attempts as a criminal offence punishable by up to one year in prison.
Aisha’s case is not unique. Bolanle, a trader at the popular Idumota Market in Lagos, was also arrested and prosecuted after attempting to take her life. Faced with mounting debts and constant harassment from creditors, she jumped into a canal. Though she was rescued and briefly seen by a psychologist called in by the police, she was ultimately arrested and charged.
In another case, a 20-year-old woman, Dami, was arrested for attempting suicide after her husband divorced her. Rather than being offered help, she too was taken into custody and charged.
Albert, an employee of a construction company in Lagos, attempted suicide by jumping into the lagoon near Ebute-Ero jetty. He was rescued by divers and the police, and after regaining consciousness, explained that he had acted out of frustration over his employer’s refusal to issue him a certificate he believed would improve his career prospects. Nevertheless, a senior police officer ordered that he be prosecuted.
These cases illustrate a growing concern in Nigeria: individuals in deep psychological distress are being treated as criminals rather than patients in need of care. The intersection of rising mental health challenges, economic hardship, and outdated laws is leaving many without the support they need.
Across the country, many who survive suicide attempts face arrest and prosecution instead of receiving medical or psychological assistance. Under the current Nigerian law, anyone who “attempts to kill himself” commits a misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment. Survivors are often treated as offenders, arrested from hospital beds, interrogated by police, and sometimes locked up.
Globally, suicide kills more than 720,000 people each year and is now the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nearly three-
quarters of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria, where mental health services are poorly funded and often inaccessible. Though national data are scarce, psychiatrists and hospital records point to a steady increase in suicide attempts, particularly among young adults.
A growing and silent epidemic
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide has become a major source of mortality worldwide, with an estimated one million people dying from suicide every year. In Nigeria and across Africa, there has been a silent but rising epidemic of suicide, particularly among students and young people.
A WHO estimate placed the suicide rate for Nigeria at 17.3 per 100,000 population, compared to the global average of 10.3 per 100,000. A study published in General Psychiatry in 2021, which analysed over 350 Nigerian newspaper suicide reports from the previous decade, found that 50 per cent of cases involved people below 34 years old, showing an early loss of productive lives.
Furthermore, WHO has rated suicide as the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 44, and the second leading cause among adolescents aged 15 to 19.
Another report, published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry in May 2023, analysed 205 suicide-related stories from top Nigerian newspapers and found that while 79 per cent provided details of suicide methods and 66 per cent offered one-dimensional explanations, less than 4 per cent included expert opinions, research findings, or information about available support services. Experts warn that such patterns of sensational reporting may trigger “copycat” behaviour — where vulnerable individuals imitate suicidal acts seen in the media.
On October 10, 2024, the Federal Government inaugurated a National Taskforce on the Decriminalisation of Attempted Suicide with Prof. Cheluchi Onyemelukwe as Chair. The mandate is to guide Nigeria’s transition from punishment to a public health–oriented, compassionate response.
According to Onyemelukwe, “Attempted suicide is a cry for help. It says, ‘I am in pain and I am overwhelmed.’ The law should create a supportive environment for help-seeking, not one that penalises, criminalises and punishes a person for their own wellness,” she said.
In an earlier chat with Saturday Vanguard, the President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Prof. Taiwo Obindo, said that criminalising attempted suicide has proven to be a major barrier to suicide prevention and intervention services. He added that punitive colonial-era laws discourage people from seeking help and complicate data collection.
Similarly, Prof. Taiwo Sheikh, Convener of the Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group, said: “When you criminalise attempted suicide, you stigmatise people who are already vulnerable. This law drives them underground, away from help.”
The WHO has long urged countries to decriminalise attempted suicide, warning that punishment deters survivors from seeking care.
Nation on the edge
In 2024, the Federal Government set up a national task force to guide the process of decriminalising attempted suicide and to build a public-health approach to prevention.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said during the inauguration that “suicide prevention is a collective responsibility. We must all be committed to building a society that values mental health, promotes well-being and provides care for everyone.” The government aims to complete the decriminalisation process by December 2025.
However, psychiatrists have warned that legal reform alone will not be enough. Nigeria has fewer than 300 psychiatrists for more than 200 million people, and mental health facilities are grossly underfunded. Many primary health centres have no trained mental health personnel.
Also in a chat with Saturday Vanguard, the Medical Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Budo-Egba, Kwara State, Dr. Baba Issa, said current suicide patterns reveal worrying trends: “We are seeing more involvement of men than women in both suicide attempts and completions. There is also an increase in the use of organophosphates and jumping into oceans, now more common than hanging or running in front of vehicles.”
He attributed this to multiple factors including academic pressure, economic hardship, fear of reprisal, cult rivalries, and poor peer advice concerning love affairs — issues increasingly common among young people.
Violation of Rights
Also speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the Executive Director of Cadrell Advocacy Centre, Barr. Evans Ufeli, said criminalising attempted suicide in Nigeria not only harms people and public health but also violates core human-rights obligations and undermines prevention efforts.
According to him, the key obstacles to repeal include stigma, religious and moral beliefs, weak political will, and legal complexity. “Repeal would shift responses from policing to healthcare,” he explained. “It would require police diversion protocols, change hospital intake and medico-legal practice, and improve the quality of suicide attempt data if accompanied by health-system reporting.”
Beyond repeal, he said Nigeria needs a well-funded, multisectoral suicide-prevention strategy:
strengthening community and primary-care mental health with task-sharing, crisis lines, restriction of access to lethal means such as pesticides, medications, and firearms, responsible media reporting, anti-stigma campaigns, and training for gatekeepers like police, clergy, and teachers.
On the dangers of continued criminalisation, Ufeli said: “Criminal penalties and the threat of arrest deter people in crisis and their families from seeking emergency care, counselling, or life-saving treatment. This increases the risk of repeat attempts and suicide deaths. Criminalisation reinforces social and institutional stigma against people with suicidal behaviour and mental health conditions, worsening marginalisation and access to services.”
He warned that police and detention resources are wasted handling health crises that should be managed clinically, while detention itself exposes vulnerable people to unsafe conditions and rights violations. “Fear of legal consequences also causes hospitals to prioritise medico-legal documentation over psychosocial care, and families may hide attempts to avoid prosecution. This produces unreliable data and hampers planning and resource allocation,” he said.
Ufeli further stressed that Nigeria’s criminalisation of attempted suicide breaches international human-rights standards. “Nigeria is obliged under international law — including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — to ensure access to health without discrimination. Treating suicidal behaviour as a crime can amount to punitive treatment contrary to Nigeria’s obligations under the ICCPR, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and UN human-rights recommendations,” he said.
“WHO and UN human-rights bodies all advise countries to decriminalise suicidal behaviour because criminalisation is a barrier to public health and human rights protection,” he added.
Drug use — hidden accelerator
Further findings have shown that the crisis is compounded by Nigeria’s growing drug problem. Abuse of tramadol, codeine, and synthetic opioids has reached alarming levels, especially among youth. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that millions of Nigerians now misuse psychoactive substances.
In the views of Dr. Maymunah Kadiri, a consultant neuropsychiatrist, “Sometimes, when you ask a rescued victim if they really wanted to die, the answer is ‘no’. There are psycho-social problems — depression, loss, frustration, financial or emotional distress, that push people to that point.”
Psychiatrists warned that drug use worsens impulsivity and depression — two major risk factors for suicide. Yet addiction treatment and rehabilitation centres remain scarce, and stigma often prevents families from seeking help.
Dr. Baba Issa told Saturday Vanguard that criminalisation worsens this silence. “Sections 327 and 231 of Nigeria’s Criminal and Penal Codes make attempted suicide punishable by up to one year in prison, turning a mental health crisis into a criminal offence,” he said. “Because of this, many people hide their struggles, and survivors avoid hospitals or lie about their injuries for fear of arrest or public shame.”
He added that by the time some patients seek help, their condition is often critical. “Many only come when their illness becomes life-threatening, by which point the window for early intervention may have closed,” he said.
Speaking on the use of drugs and suicide, the Founder of the Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA), Dr. Martin Agwogie, told Saturday Vanguard that the problem of drug abuse in Nigeria is a major public health concern.
“It has become a significant threat to public health in Nigeria. About 14 per cent of Nigerians between ages 15 and 64 use drugs — that’s roughly 14 million people, almost three times the global average,” he said.
“Specifically, for tramadol and cough syrup containing codeine, Nigeria accounts for about 14 per cent of the world’s users, making it one of the countries with the highest rates of misuse. In 2017 and 2018, Nigeria recorded the world’s largest seizures of tramadol — 96 and 22.2 tonnes respectively — due to high non-medical demand,” Agwogie explained.
He noted that synthetic opioids like high-dose tramadol can cause nausea, constipation, and dizziness, and in severe cases, respiratory and central nervous system depression.
“Substance abuse is a major risk factor for both suicide and depression,” he said. “Likewise, suicidal ideation or depression increases the risk of substance abuse. So mental health must be treated holistically.”
Agwogie warned that stigma and government criminalisation make treatment and rehabilitation harder to access. “In some circles, drug use is still viewed as a criminal offence rather than a mental health issue,” he said. “Policies must shift toward prevention, early intervention, and family support.”
He recommended strengthening family bonds, promoting emotional resilience, and establishing nationwide help lines for people struggling with addiction or suicidal thoughts.
The UN’s growing concern
The United Nations has expressed alarm at Nigeria’s deteriorating mental-health indicators, especially among children and adolescents in conflict-affected regions. UNICEF and WHO officials say prolonged insecurity, displacement, malnutrition, and economic hardship are fuelling anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation among young Nigerians.
A recent WHO advisory noted that “73 per cent of all suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries,” urging Nigeria to integrate mental health into its primary health-care system and emergency response.
What has to be done
Experts insist that Nigeria’s response must move from punishment to prevention. Beyond repealing outdated laws, the country needs a national suicide prevention strategy aligned with WHO’s LIVE LIFE model limiting access to means, promoting responsible media reporting, teaching coping skills, and ensuring rapid access to mental-health care.
Baba Issa emphasised that suicide prevention requires a multidisciplinary approach. “It involves mental health professionals — psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and counsellors — as well as law enforcement officers, legal experts to protect patients, religious leaders to strengthen belief systems, and emergency management teams like NEMA,” he told Saturday Vanguard.
He also highlighted the need for stronger follow-up care after discharge. “While some patients continue with outpatient counselling or therapy, many are lost to follow-up due to stigma or fear of persecution because attempted suicide remains a criminal offence,” he said. “This is why these laws need urgent review and amendment.”
Obindo also stated that “every suicide attempt is a moment of crisis that could have been prevented if support systems were in place. People in pain need treatment and compassion, not prosecution.”
Families also have a role to play. Experts advise relatives to recognise warning signs such as withdrawal, hopelessness, and sudden calmness after distress. Removing access to medications, pesticides, or firearms at home can prevent impulsive acts. Communities, faith leaders, and journalists are urged to promote awareness and to speak responsibly about mental health.
Silence and scars
Aisha, Dami, Albert and Bolanle eventually regained their composure, and with the help of counsellors, began their recovery. But they now live with criminal records and the stigma of their ordeal. Their neighbours still whisper; their families still hide the story.
Their cases mirror a broken system one where despair is treated as a crime instead of a symptom. Experts say until Nigeria’s laws and policies catch up with compassion, thousands like Aisha and others will continue to suffer in silence, punished for surviving.
Nigeria’s mental health snapshot
· Law: Suicide attempt = 1-year jail (Section 327).
· Deaths: About 16,000 yearly.
· Experts: Under 300 psychiatrists for 200 m people.
· Drugs: Tramadol, codeine abuse rising.
· Youth: Half of victims under 34.
· Helplines: SURPIN 0908 103 1239 / 1240; MANI 0701 075 6264.
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