Government, corporate bodies, others not doing enough to address mental health, experts say

By Lanre Adesanya

As Nigeria continued to record increase in suicide, especially in
recent time, mental health experts have attributed the crisis to
alleged failures on part of the government, financial institutions and
corporate organisations to provide the needed support in addressing
the menace.

This is even as parents and religious leaders are advised against
neglecting their roles of monitoring, mentoring and counselling of
youths, who are largely prone to such acts.

The experts, who spoke recently at an event Sensitization Campaign on
Mental Health Issues tagged “Speak Out: Say No to Drug Addiction,
Depression and Suicide”, held in Lagos, bemoaned the government for
the dearth of employment, economic hardship and poor infrastructures
which are mitigating factors that could lead to suicide.

At an event organised by Centre for Corrections and Human Development
in conjunction with MSCI, the Executive Director, Mrs Obioma Agoziem,
who described mental health issues as a rampaging virus that is
spreading like wild fire, berated government and  financial
institutions for not providing the needed support for victims of drug
addiction, urging them to speak out so that they could get help.

MSCI is a Japanese oorganization which provides global supports for
environment, social and governance issues.

According to Agoziem, while the government fails to provide suitable
environment for the public, as Nigeria now currently ranked Africa’s
most depressed country (WHO’s National Depression  Report, 2019), many
financial institutions and corporate organisations do not see any
interest or gains to support campaigns against drug abuse and other
social vices.

The CCHD Executive Director noted that on many accounts, as an NGO,
when she approached corporate organisations on the need to support
efforts towards addressing the menace, many of the firms see no reason
to throw their weight behind such campaign.

The Executive Director also lampooned many parents following their
disposition to work at the expense of care giving through constant
attention paid on the children, just as she noted that religious
leaders have a role to play in admonishing and counselling youth
members in places of worship in order to discourage them of peer
pressure, which is a major factor to drug addiction and a causative to
depression and suicides.

“Substance abuse is ravaging our youths like wild fire and  the
government, banks and other corporate bodies have a role to play in
the campaign against this menace,” the Executive Director said in her
speech.

“Also our religious leaders and parents are not left out. They must
provide the needed support for youths and children so that they can
speak out because from the encounters we have had many people
including youths, we found out that victims hardly seek for help early
enough.

“There is always that procrastination, that bottling up, that
unwillingness to seek for intervention and sometimes, even the fears
of being stigmatized hold back so many victims.”

In his remark, MSCI founder Mr Suzuki Yuichi said he would provide
adequate support through funds and other means towards efforts to
contain the crisis.

He said the issue was not only limited to Nigeria but also noted in
civilized countries. He however added that the advanced countries have
better ways of addressing the crisis.

While noting that Japan was formerly infamous for almost 20,000 deaths
annually resulting from mental health related issues, Yuichi stressed
that the government however took practical measures to address the
situation, an approach which drastically reduced the figure.

“Mental health is a global problem and Nigeria is not an exception,”
Yuichi stated.

“Japan used to have an alarm rate of mental health related deaths but
conscious  efforts were taken to reduce the situation. A lot of
advocacy, awareness campaignsm funds must go into it to achieve
significant result in addressing the issue.

“Nigeria is a great country and the people are good. What I witnessed
since I arrived  in Lagos is contrary to what I’ve been hearing about
Nigeria, which over the years had shaped by view about this country
and the people. But now I have a true picture of Nigeria.

“I promise to support the course against drug addictions, depression
and suicide. I saw vigour, vitality and agility in kids in Lagos. We
as parents, government, organizations, should support these kids so
that they won’t be dying of depression.

In her address, Dr Nayah Egegbara of the Federal Psychiatric Hospital
Yaba, berated situations where victims seek treatments for mental
health in church instead of going to professionals.

She also fumed at situations where parents deliberately conceal the
status of their children with mental health challenge.

Egegbara said: “We need to speak out; parents must speak out about the
condition of their children who has mental health problem. And must
always seek professionals to handle the case rather than visiting
traditional people or clerics for prayers and rituals.”

In her submission, Oyinkansola Alabi of Emotion City stated that
“there is no health without mental and emotional health”.

She maintained that if the mental and emotional health are not in good
conditions, nothing can be achieved by humans.

Alabi, who averred that suicide does not just occur but a gradual
process,  identified three stages that potentially provoke the act to
include cluelessness; hopelessness/helplessness, and depressions which
ultimately advance to suicide.

She exlained: “At cluelessness, the victims does not even know he or
she needs help. At hopelessness  and helplessness, the victim thinks
he or she can’t get help and his or her condition has gone beyond
redress. And this subsequently leads the victim into depression, which
eventually may result to suicide.”

Alabi further charged the government to include mental health as a
subject in the school curriculum.