Stakeholders Urge Kano To Domesticate Mental Health Act

Stakeholders in the mental health sector have called on the Kano State Government to domesticate the National Mental Health Act to improve access to mental healthcare and protect the rights of persons with mental health conditions.

They also urged the government to increase funding, integrate mental health services into primary healthcare centres and recruit more professionals to address the shortage of personnel.

The stakeholders made the demands in a communiqué issued at the end of an engagement organised by the Positive Pathways Initiative to commemorate the 2026 World Mental Health Day in Kano.

They called for coordinated and adequately funded interventions to strengthen mental healthcare and psychosocial support, particularly in underserved communities.

The communiqué urged the government to develop a comprehensive framework for providing mental health support during emergencies, disasters, conflicts, displacement, gender-based violence and human trafficking.

The stakeholders also recommended strengthening the state’s social protection system to provide specialised psychiatric care, rehabilitation, child and adolescent mental health services and substance-use treatment.

They called for scholarships for students pursuing psychiatry and related disciplines, alongside the recruitment and retraining of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, counsellors and social workers.

Speaking after the event, the Executive Director of PPI, Roquaya Tofa, said the organisation had sustained its advocacy for the domestication of mental health legislation in Kano.

Tofa explained that PPI drafted the Kano State Mental Health Bill in 2022, before the National Mental Health Act was signed into law in 2023.

She said the organisation subsequently convened a civil society organisations’ validation meeting and submitted the bill alongside an advocacy report highlighting challenges faced by inmates requiring mental healthcare in correctional facilities.

According to her, PPI has written to former and current Speakers of the Kano State House of Assembly, seeking legislative support for the bill.

She added that the organisation had also approached the state governor and engaged relevant stakeholders, to discuss the proposed domestication of the law.

Tofa said effective legislation would protect the rights and dignity of persons with mental health conditions, improve access to treatment and address stigma and discrimination.