San Francisco Frontiers - Nigeria rethinks criminalisation of suicide

Laws dating back decades, including some inherited from the colonial era, criminalise attempted suicide -- and, advocates say, deter people in crisis from seeking the care they need.

The government now says those laws have run their course and must change.

Africa's most populous country records about 300,000 suicide attempts annually, with at least 7,000 deaths, according to health minister Mohammed Ali Pate, citing World Health Organization figures.

"Suicide is a major public health concern in Nigeria," Pate told journalists in August. "The idea is attempted suicide is not a crime."

Criminalising suicide attempts discourages people from seeking urgent help, said Kingsley Okonoda, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Jos.

"So many people will not present for treatment or will not come out even after the attempted suicide has failed because of fear of being prosecuted," Okonoda told AFP.

- Limited access to treatment -

Pate said the government would send a bill to the National Assembly to push forward with the decriminalisation plan, with the aim of reducing suicide deaths and attempts by 15 percent by 2030.

Across Nigeria's 36 states, suicide attempts typically carry a one-year prison term, though in Muslim-majority Jigawa, governed under sharia in parallel to the state and federal justice systems, the penalty can be as high as five years, according to Decriminalise Suicide Worldwide, an advocacy campaign.

Supporters of the reform are calling for the federal government to harmonise the law across the country -- and also warn decriminalisation alone may not be enough.

Less than 35 percent of Nigerians believe people in their communities can access help for mental or emotional problems, according to a 2024 report from Afrobarometer, a pollster.

Stigma remains a major barrier to treatment, with many Nigerians still viewing mental health problems as spiritual afflictions.

Nigeria also faces a severe shortage of qualified medical professionals, with fewer than 1,000 psychiatrists serving more than 200 million people, according to 2024 figures from the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN).

"Decriminalising suicide must be accompanied by a deliberate expansion of access to quality mental health services. Accessibility must be matched by affordability," APN said in a statement to AFP.

- Economic crisis, insecurity -

Along with the proposed amendments, experts said the government must also address factors that predispose people to suicide.

Economic hardship, rising poverty, insecurity and social isolation are among the drivers of mental illness and suicidal behaviour, according to the APN.

The country has endured years of economic strain, with President Bola Tinubu's major reforms blamed for pushing up the cost of living, even as the government says they are attracting international investment and creating macroeconomic stability.

Inflation reached a record high of 34 percent in mid-2024 before slowing to 15.4 percent in July. Poverty has continued to rise, affecting 63 percent of the population, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The country is also grappling with a 17-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast. Rampant kidnap-for-ransom attacks and farmer-herder violence wrack the north-central region, while secessionist agitation rumbles on in the southeast.

The government "has a crucial role to play beyond the health sector. Every meaningful intervention that makes life safer, more dignified and more economically viable is, in itself, a mental health intervention and suicide prevention," APN said.

A suicide prevention bill submitted by several NGOs to the National Assembly in 2024, seeking to protect the "rights of persons with suicidal behaviour", is yet to be passed.

Promoters said the bill would complement proposed amendments to the country's existing mental health laws.

"The amendment and the National Suicide Prevention Bill are two halves of one reform," said Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, of the Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group.

"One removes the punishment, the other builds what should be there instead."

P.Adams--SFF