Chime Asonye: Nigeria Needs Dedicated Department for Mental Health Services 

The Founder, Nigerian Mental Health, Chime Asonye, speaks on the Mental Health Commitment Policy Tracker, how to improve the National Mental Health Act, among other salient issues. Charles Ajunwa brings excerpts:

Can you tell us about Mental Health Commitment Tracker launched by your organisation?

Nigerian Mental Health (NMH) launched the Mental Health Policy Commitment Tracker as an open-access accountability platform to monitor the implementation of mental health laws, funding allocations, and policy promises across Nigeria. Since the passage of the National Mental Health Act, several core mandates remain unfulfilled, including the creation of a dedicated Department of Mental Health Services and the statutory Mental Health Fund. We built this tracker to bridge the information gap, aggregating policy data, legislative updates, and budget releases to rate each government commitment so the public can track exactly where reform stands.

Ninety per cent of Nigerians who need mental health support cannot access it. How will the tracker close this gap?

While a digital tracker does not treat patients directly, it creates the transparency and pressure needed to unlock systemic resources. So, to close this gap, we need to enforce funding mandates. I mean, tracking and exposing delays in operationalising the Mental Health Fund, which is essential for subsidising care and community-level programs. Another step to close the gap, is through monitoring primary healthcare (PHC) integration. Evaluating state and federal progress on embedding mental health services into local primary healthcare centres, making care accessible to the 60%+ of Nigerians living outside major urban centers. Also, through empowering data-driven advocacy. We equip civil society groups, journalists, and policymakers with verified metrics to hold leadership accountable to concrete delivery dates rather than vague promises.

The federal government has approved the Mental Health Act amendment to decriminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria. What’s your take on this development?

This approval marks a monumental victory for public health in Nigeria and affirms years of intensive advocacy led by Nigerian Mental Health through our #SuicideNotCrimeNG campaign.  For decades, archaic colonial laws, specifically Section 327 of the Criminal Code Act and Section 231 of the Penal Code, treated individuals surviving acute psychological distress as criminals subject to up to a year in prison. This punitive approach drove crises underground, promoted stigma, and prevented vulnerable individuals from seeking life-saving help for fear of prosecution.

While executive approval to decriminalise attempted suicide is a massive step forward, decriminalisation is only half the battle:  First, we must operationalise the National Mental Health Act 2021. It’s a proposed amendment to the Act — which itself has never been fully operationalised — carries a serious governance risk. Decriminalisation risks becoming a paper repeal: the offence leaves the statute books while police continue to detain survivors and clinicians receive no guidance

Second, pass the National Suicide Prevention Bill. Decriminalisation removes the penalty; prevention builds the support system. Stopping the arrest of people in distress does not automatically provide them with care. Alongside our #SuicideNotCrimeNG push, we are championing the enactment of a standalone National Suicide Prevention Bill. This legislation is vital to establish a legally mandated 24/7 national toll-free crisis helpline, standardise suicide prevention protocols, restrict access to high-hazard lethal means (such as toxic pesticides), and fund community crisis intervention centers.

Immediate legislative action is now required. Executive approval of the decriminalisation amendment to the Mental Health Act must be swiftly passed by the National Assembly into law, alongside the National Suicide Prevention Bill, to ensure a complete transition from criminalisation to compassionate, structured care nationwide.

 Are there other legislations on Mental Health you would like the National Assembly to pass into law?

Yes. Beyond adopting the decriminalisation amendment, our legislative priorities for the National Assembly include: Enacting the National Suicide Prevention Bill. Codifying national crisis hotline infrastructure, suicide prevention training for first responders, and emergency intervention protocols into federal law. We need state-level domestication. This is the legislative mechanisms that incentivise State Houses of Assembly to domesticate the National Mental Health Act and establish dedicated state mental health budget lines. 

There should be mandatory insurance coverage Amending the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) operational framework to mandate non-discriminatory coverage for mental health consultations, therapy, and psychotropic medications.

Poor infrastructure remains the bane of Nigeria’s health sector. What’s the way out?

To overcome systemic infrastructure deficits, Nigerian Mental Health advocates for four structural shifts: One, decentralising care to primary healthcare centres. Reallocating capital investment from centralized urban psychiatric hospitals toward equipping rural PHC centers with basic diagnostics, essential psychoactive medications, and trained healthcare personnel. Two, meeting statutory funding commitments.  Fulfilling the 15 per cent Abuja Declaration allocation for healthcare in annual budgets and fully capitalising the Mental Health Fund. Three, Brain drain (Japa) mitigation. Nigeria is facing an acute mental health workforce emergency. We currently have fewer than 250 practicing psychiatrists and around 1,000 psychiatric nurses serving a population of over 220 million people—a ratio of roughly 1 psychiatrist per 800,000 people, far below the WHO recommendation. Over two-thirds of our trained specialists have migrated abroad due to turbulent working conditions and poor pay. To curb this brain drain, the government must institute hazard allowances, competitive market-aligned remuneration, safe working environments in psychiatric facilities, and clear clinical advancement pathways for psychiatric nurses, clinical psychologists, and doctors. Four, expanding tele-mental health infrastructure. Partnering with private health-tech innovators to expand digital triage, remote counseling, and tele-psychiatry to underserved communities across all 36 states.