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Federal government has been advised to evolve a national strategy to stem rising cases of suicides across the country. Making the appeal in Lagos, a mental health advocate, and Executive Director,The Nous Organisation, Ms Lade Olugbemi-Ogunsetan expressed concern about the ugly trend which she noted has become a source of concern that must be quickly addressed by all the relevant stakeholders, especially the federal government.
Olugbemi-Ogunsetan who spoke while addressing a media briefing said a national conference on suicide prevention being organised by her group in conjunction with other stakeholders, The Sparkle Foundations and The Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPINS) would take place at JF Ade-Ajayi Hall, University of Lagos on Saturday, October 26,Suicide. She revealed that 25-30% of Nigerian population have mental illness challenges which often result into incidences of suicides.
‘’This figure by the World Health Organisation is revealing, what it means is that 3 out out of every 10 Nigerians have mental health issues challenges, and this why it imperative for the Federal government to evolve appropriate strategies to stem rising cases of suicides in the country. To make matter worse, Nigeria has only 200 psychiatrists in a population of about 200 million people. Mental issues affect everybody,it is an issue that must be quickly addressed before it snowball into a bigger problem’’,she declared.
While stressing the need for Nigerians to change their attitude towards people with mental health related challenges, she said people with such challenges should not be stigmatized but rather be provided with the necessary support including counseling and treatment.
‘It is very alarming that Nigeria is today rated as the number 5th in the ranking of countries with the highest rates of suicides in the world. This is just the recorded figures, there are several other cases of suicides that are not recorded, and when we add those figures , what it means is that Nigeria must be in the first or second position. This is a big challenge for the government ,and other stakeholders including members of the National Assembly. We all have to work together to tackle this challenge’,she declared.
