The President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Prof. Taiwo James Obindo, has made case for the decriminalisation of attempted suicide in the country.
Attempted suicide is currently a crime under the law.
Obindo made the call to decriminalize it at a session of stakeholders organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Specialty Healthcare on the need to prioritise and implement the Mental Health Act.
Obindo said the fact that suicide attempt remains a criminal offence in both the Criminal Act and the Penal Code made the
establishment of the National Counselling Centres all over the country in an attempt to address mental health parallel to putting cart before the horse.
“Hence the first step would be a move to decriminalize attempted suicide. Criminalising attempted Suicide has proven to be a major barrier to suicide prevention intervention service uptake.
“The archaic law, inherited from our Colonial masters, in an attempt to stop the act of suicide did not address the thoughts and social determinants of Suicide. Significant evidence showed that 90% of those who take their lives through suicide had a background history of Mental Health Conditions; out of which 80% are attributable to Depression due to various bio-psycho-social etiologies.
“Why do we, as a Nation, then punish individuals who are ill and need medical attention rather than prosecution? It will shock you to know that Nigeria, the giant of Africa, is lagging behind as quite a number of our neighbouring nations have abrogated that law.
“Establishing a Counselling centre, without abrogating this archaic law would put, even the counsellors at risk because the law also prescribes penalties for those who are aware of the plan but did not report,” he said.
