The Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group has called on the Federal Government to prioritise suicide prevention, warning that Nigeria records about 16,000 suicide deaths annually, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates.
The appeal was made in Abuja on Sunday during a courtesy visit to Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (APC – Cross River South), who reaffirmed his commitment to pushing a Suicide Prevention Bill currently before the Senate.
Ekpenyong, who sponsored the bill, said it seeks to decriminalise attempted suicide and provide a framework for prevention, service delivery, helplines, and capacity building for mental health professionals. The bill passed first reading in February.
“Depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions affect millions of Nigerians, yet they are poorly understood and rarely prioritised,” the senator said. “Suicide prevention requires government attention, sustained education, and sensitisation.”
He assured the coalition that he would push for the bill’s second reading and lobby his colleagues for data-driven deliberations.
The Convener of the coalition and Continental Representative of LifeLine International, Prof. Taiwo Sheikh, stressed that existing laws criminalising attempted suicide discouraged help-seeking among vulnerable Nigerians.
“When you criminalise attempted suicide, you stigmatise people who are already vulnerable,” Sheikh said. “Most victims are young people aged between 15 and 29, and this is a crisis that must be urgently addressed.”
Other members of the coalition, including psychiatrists, psychologists and civil society actors, urged the National Assembly to accelerate passage of the bill.
“For every recorded suicide, there are at least 20 more attempts. In Nigeria, every delay in passing this bill means more lives lost,” said Ms Aisha Abdullahi Bubah, Executive Director of The Sunshine Series.
The group announced plans to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10 with sensitisation campaigns, media engagements, and policy dialogues.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ekpenyong has also been invited to participate in the Vanguard Mental Health Summit in October, themed “Stemming the Rising Tide of Suicide in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, in a related development, the Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre at Yobe State University, Damaturu, announced that it had collected 1,100 biopsies and blood samples for its ongoing Dementia Research Project.
The study, led by Prof. Mahmoud Maina, aims to establish Africa’s first open-access Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell biobank, feeding into research on dementia and other health conditions such as diabetes, malaria and kidney diseases.
University spokesman Abdulmunini Gulani said the project, the first of its kind in northern Nigeria, would place Yobe on the global map of biomedical research.
punch
