Nigeria has Africa’s highest rate of depression & ranks 5th in the world in frequency of suicide - Senator

About 50 million Nigerians suffer some form of mental disorder it was learnt on Wednesday.

Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe, disclosed this in his lead debate on a “Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment and regulation of mental health and substance abuse services, protect persons with mental health needs and establishment of National Commission for mental and substance abuse services, for the effective management of mental health in Nigeria and for other related matters, 2019,” on the floor of the Senate.

The Bill which was read for the second time by the Senate in Abuja was sponsored by Senator Oloriegbe, representing Kwara Central Senatorial District.

Oloriegbe noted that “according to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 50 million people (i.e. 1 in every 4 persons) are suffering from some sort of mental illness in Nigeria!”

He added that as the seventh-largest country in the world, Nigeria has Africa’s highest rate of depression, and ranks fifth in the world in the frequency of suicide.