Decriminalising suicide attempts and tackling the root causes
19 November 2024 |
9:36 am
The Federal Government’s establishment of a special committee to review the criminalisation of attempted suicide demonstrates recognition of a worrying spate of Nigerians taking their lives or even thinking about it.
The Federal Government’s establishment of a special committee to review the criminalisation of attempted suicide demonstrates recognition of a worrying spate of Nigerians taking their lives or even thinking about it. Taking the act of suicide attempts off the criminal code is overdue, as the criminalisation is predicated on an archaic, colonial law that fails to interrogate the fundamental causes of suicide. But beyond the officialdom of the committee, the government should admit that the seething frustration, depression, and death-wish epidemic in today’s Nigeria is also a manifestation of the economic adversity being endured by the majority of Nigerians; and this requires an equally fundamental remedy by the government. The task is for all tiers of government.
Commemorating World Mental Health Day recently, the federal government initiated the process to remove suicide attempts from being a criminal offence in Nigeria, aiming for the reform to take effect by 2025. The government inaugurated a National Task Force on Decriminalisation of Attempted Suicide with a term of reference that includes carrying out constructive and strategic engagements with stakeholders towards ensuring timely and seamless decriminalisation of attempted suicide in Nigeria, launching public awareness campaigns about the need for decriminalisation, mobilising resources, and developing a comprehensive government-wide position paper on the issue.
Currently, Nigeria’s law makes it a crime to attempt suicide, as contained in section 327 of the Criminal Code Act and section 231 of the penal code. The obnoxious provisions earn Nigeria a place among the last set of 19 countries that still criminalise attempted suicide globally. The law is a hangover of colonial-era laws that treated attempted suicide as a criminal offence but could offer nothing to those who succeeded in killing themselves. The review process is a welcome development that yields to the yearning of stakeholders who have been pushing for a policy reversal. These punitive measures perpetuate stigma and hinder the provision of appropriate mental health support to individuals in crisis. More so, these laws do not align with modern mental health care principles. To emphasise punishment over compassion and assistance for depressed persons is a disservice. The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), therefore, argued that instead of criminalisation of suicide attempts, there should be support systems that encourage open suicide discussions, promote preventive measures as well and protect the rights and privileges of families under the burden of suicide.
Indeed, life is universally sacred and should never be taken at will. The 1999 Constitution emphasises the right to life, and therefore, saddles the government with the primary duty of its welfare and security. But the main challenge is the worth of Nigerian life in modern times. While suicide attempts are not limited to those struggling for economic survival, it is easy for people to think that life is not worth living when they go through endless struggle, misery, poverty, and hopelessness. The worsening pangs of life and living in Nigeria are pushing many citizens on the edge, with mental cases that present in care facilities now 200 per cent more than the previous year’s record. While the rising cases of anxiety disorders, depression and suicide tendencies are not peculiar to Nigeria, the recent plunge in socioeconomic fortunes is capable of disorienting many people.
Globally, more than 720,000 people die by suicide with 73 per cent of this number taking place in low-and-middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), making suicide the third leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds. Experts estimated suicide rate in Nigeria is about 6.9 per 100,000 population, indicating about 15,000 deaths by suicide yearly. Meanwhile, of every single death recorded as a result of suicide, there are about 20 to 25 attempts. For every suicide too, a minimum of six people within the family setting will suffer one psychosocial disturbance, either depression, anxiety or some other mental health condition.
Traditionally, Nigerians are happy-go-lucky people; bubbling and full of life. They love their long life of pleasure and fun. In the not-too-distant past, they were regarded as the happiest people on earth. So, why would any Nigerian freely want to take his or her own life? Indeed, there are challenges, other than economic adversity, confronting many individuals, and sometimes pushing them to contemplate suicide. Many years ago, a young lady reportedly committed suicide after being gang-raped. Another young lady, an undergraduate, committed suicide on the ground that a lecturer was allegedly frustrating her from graduating. Also in one community in Ikorodu this year, a 40-year-old man committed suicide, following his inability to refund money meant for an examination, that he had collected from students in the school in which he worked, and which he appeared to have used for something else. These are areas that the government committee should deeply examine to unravel why some people prefer the easy option of taking their lives rather than facing their challenges squarely. If some people could face their problems, why couldn’t others? What has changed to warrant the morbid extremity of Nigerians taking their own lives, amid uncertainties of the afterlife?
A significant percentage of suicides border on mental ill-health caused or aggravated by socioeconomic stress and hopelessness. At the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba (FNPHY), Lagos, a flagship public facility, there has been a reported increase in the number of new cases from five to 10 patients daily, to currently about 25 to 30 patients indicating over 200 per cent increment with at least 750 new cases received at the hospital monthly. The numbers point to the morbid situation of Nigeria of today, and a real solution is the business of the government. So, what is government, at federal and state levels, doing differently to boost mental health and reduce the suicide rate?
More than the bureaucratic stonewalling and unnecessary public expenditure, the Federal Government needs to address poverty, injustice and inequalities that abound in the country, causing hopelessness and huge frustrations. The scepticism is that the committee will also go the way of the National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework that was launched last year; all motion, no progress! In the place of a panel, an executive bill to the National Assembly for the amendment of the relevant clause should suffice for a legislative overhaul. Then, the real efforts are best dissipated to alleviate the present hardship Nigerians are facing. Nigerians deserve a better standard of living that rekindles hope that life is still worth it.
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