Nigeria Has 4 Years To Reduce Suicide By Over 15% – Task Force

The National Task Force on Decriminalisation of Attempted Suicide has said that Nigeria has four years to reduce suicide deaths by over 15 per cent.

The chair of the Task Force, Prof. Cheluchi Onyemelukwe, who reiterated calls for the decriminalisation of attempted suicide in the country’s laws, said the vision was formulated within a space of seven years in 2023 to 2030 and the country only has four years to go to achieve that target.

The disclosure was made recently at a webnair hosted by the National Taskforce on Decriminalisation of Suicide with the theme, “Decriminalising Attempted Suicide in Nigeria: A Public Health and Human Rights Imperative,” which had members, experts, survivors and policy makers in attendance.

The National Taskforce on Decriminalisation on Attempted Suicide is fighting for the decriminalization of attempted suicide in Nigeria.

Explaining further, a member of the Taskforce, who is also a Chief Consultant Psychiatrist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Dr Adegboyega Ogunwale, said the country was already behind time and it had only four years to go to achieve that vision.

“It is my hope and prayer that as we step up our game, we’ll get there. It’s not just a national priority, it’’s a global priority at the level of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and at the level of the UN. It is a priority indicator for the sustainable development goals as well.”

He said though suicide rate as of 2019 was 6.9 per 100,000 population with over 7,000 events of suicide but as of 2021, the rate was 8.8 per 100,000 population which suggests increase.

Ogunwale said in the last five to 10 years, the use of certain chemical agents in the country for the purpose of people ending their own lives, has become more prominent than before.

He said leadership is key to suicide prevention with the government and society taking leadership to ensure that suicide is prevented by every means possible.

“Up to 20 attempts of suicide occur past successful suicide. So before you get one suicide event, about 20 attempts have occurred, and you might not have been aware of them.

“About 80 per cent of suicides occur in low and middle income countries and from a public health perspective we realize that the structural determinants of health and mental health play a role in suicidal behaviour.”

The Chief Consultant Psychiatrist explained that suicidal behaviour goes beyond just the completed suicide.

According to him, the WHO advances a conceptual framework which is a range of behaviours that include thinking about it, planning to end one’s life, attempting it, and the end of the act itself.

He said a recent systematic review looking at over 100,000 people in the country across different groups and target populations found that suicidal ideation is almost 8 per cent, planning is about 2 per cent, and attempt is slightly over 1 per cent.

“ This suggests that if you look at a population of 230 million, you are talking of huge numbers. And as a matter of fact, as at 2019, over 7,000 events of suicide occurred in terms of absolute numbers.

“So do not be deceived by a suicide attempt rate of 1.3 per cent.That is close to 2 million people. So that’s huge in terms of suicide attempts in the lifetime.

“So why did society at any time decide to criminalize suicide attempt? It was to discourage the act itself as a means of prevention. So we know that from mid-13th century, self-murder had become a crime under common law in England.’

Ogunwale while calling for decriminalization of suicide in Nigerian law, said a recent study that was looking at jurisdictions in the world with criminal sanctions, 10 out of 21 of them still had higher rates of suicide, and increasing rates of suicide, despite having sanctions in place.

“In fact, in Cyprus, the rate was over 200 per cent increase despite having sanctions in place. So we know that sanctions do not work reliably.

“However, the argument may be made that maybe legal sanctions and religious sanctions against suicide have been found to be associated with lower rates.

So that tells us that in a multi-stakeholder perspective, Religious activity, religious guidance may play a role without necessarily stigmatizing a person.

“From a public health perspective, not just from a medical perspective, there are psychological and organic factors. Mental illness is key. In fact, about 90 per cent of those who attempt suicide have one form of mental illness.

“Our research in Nigeria has shown that work done from 2010 to work done as recently as this year in terms of systematic reviews. We know that mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, personality disorders, and major mental illness like schizophrenia have been implicated in mental illness. Genetics and environment also plays vital roles.”

Another speaker, director of She Writes Woman (SWW), Hauwa Ojeifo, said though women have a higher rate of mental issus, they are more likely to talk about it than men.

She said that messaging on suicide should be gender sensitive to guard against discrimination and stigma against women.

The secretary of the National Taskforce on the Decriminalisation of Attempted Suicide, and National Coordinator , National Mental Health Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Babatunde Ojo, said there is already a strategic framework for suicide prevention in the country that is already done.

He said they were looking at transforming the white paper into law reform.

The National Mental Health Act 2021 was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 5, 2023, effectively repealing the colonial-era Lunacy Act of 1958.

While the National Mental Health Act 2021 Act is a progressive,rights-based law, it however, failed to specifically abolish the criminal penalties for suicide attempts, creating a contradiction in Nigerian law.

However, experts are of the opinion that Nigeria’s law punishing attempted suicide is harmful, and shoud reflect treating it as a health issue instead of a crime.