Mental illness statistics as released recently by experts are scary and disturbing. KEHINDE OSASONA engages with informed Nigerians and experts on what that portends for next year’s general elections.
Mental health, 2023 polls
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) recently linked democracy and good governance to the well-being and health of populations even as researchers and opinion moulders are also beginning to link political success to good planning and healthy state of mind of leaders.
However, as the arguments on health promotion and needs for policies to cater for the state of citizens’ and elected representatives mental health advances, some experts are of the view that there must be a law banning any depressed person; both government and the governed from contesting for anything on earth.
Experts’ concerns, admonitions
The call by a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Jude Ohaeri, coincided with another scary statistics churned out a few days ago by psychiatrists in Nigeria in commemoration of the World Mental Health Day in Nigeria.
Ohaeri, who was a guest lecturer at a programme entitled, “Mental Health Promotion As A National Development Strategy: The Role of Professionals in the Field,” further advocated for psychiatric assessment of leaders, politicians and other public officials before they assume office.
Also, at the World Mental Health Day (WMHD), psychiatrists raised the alarm that one in four Nigerians (over 50 million Nigerians) are suffering from one mental disorder or the other.
They added that about 75 per cent of those who need mental health care do not have access to it, as Nigeria has only 300 psychiatrists to treat at least 200 million people.
The experts, who decried one psychiatrist for every 500,000 inhabitants, expressed regrets that the figure is 100 times less than the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) recommendation.
This reporter gathered that WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, a few days ago attested to the fact when he made a disclosure that over 116 million Africans were estimated to be living with mental health conditions pre-pandemic.
The revelation was coming about the same time the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had blown the whistle to signal the commencement of campaigns for the 2023 presidential elections.
When put side by side with the preparations for the 2023 general elections, a sociologist, Onimisi Arokile, who spoke exclusively to this reporter, described the figure released by experts as “a very sad one.” According to him, it portends great danger for the populace’s well-being and democracy itself.
He added that with the damning statistics, the 2023 poll is already being threatened, adding that democracy and well-being of the government and the electorate interwoven and that a healthy government breeds a healthy society and vice versa.
He said, “In other climes like Kenya, South Africa and Egypt, they have more psychiatrists per 100,000 people and also higher proportions of psychiatric beds.
“Many countries in Africa also give better official attention to mental health issues. Such countries that promote the well-being of their citizens, especially mental health, are bound to get good results in terms of governance because it is give and take.”
Flashback
Raising concerns on the issue a few years ago, the Coalition of United Political Parties advocated that President Muhammadu Buhari; former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and all other candidates contesting the 2019 presidential election should be subjected to mental health tests. The tests, it said, should be conducted by an independent team of experts on mental health issues.
The Coalition’s demand was contained in a statement issued by its first national spokesman, Imo Ugochinyere. Justifying the demand, he insisted that the tests were necessary in order to ascertain the state of the mental health of the presidential candidates “so that any person who does not pass the examination should not be allowed to participate in the election.”
“A country of over 200 million people cannot be living and thriving under the situation of being in doubt of the mental stability of the man who holds their mandate to lead and who is seeking an extension of that mandate,” he had said.
It would be recalled that the chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Yahaya Oloriegbe, had while leading on the floor of the Upper Chamber decried the absence of Mental Health Law in Nigeria, saying the Regional Lunacy Law of 1958 violates fundamental human rights of persons with mental health and psychosocial disabilities in content and context.
With a population of over 200 million people, and one in every four persons suffering from mental illness, the lawmaker reiterated the need for debates 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.
He stressed that Nigeria, as the seventh largest country in the world, ranks highest in Africa and fifth in the world in the number of depressed people and the frequency of suicide.
Effects on the polls
“This is obviously a huge concern in as much as the general elections for 2023 is concerned because the overall population of Nigerians whose mental health conditions have been ravaged or devastated remains a critical population that can make or mar the 2023 general elections,” according to Mr. Ameh Abba Zion, the founder and president of the Mandate Health Empowerment Initiative (MHEI), a non-governmental organisation.
He stated this during an interview with Blueprint Weekend.
According to Ameh, there should be a concerted deliberate approach at the federal, the state or the local government levels in addition to the efforts by NGOs and other health stakeholders to promote mental health awareness.
He called for a national unified mental health awareness programme that will ensure social protection, social security, development of social welfare services that addresses the skills deficit in the mental health sector, improving households’ food and nutrition and the promotion of social cohesion across society.
Ameh also urged a nationwide mental health prevention programme, adding that “there should be a deliberate commitment of government and political will on mental health reforms as it relates to mental health legislation, policy and plan.”
“These must be prioritised if the critical mass of the Nigerian population living with mental health conditions must be improved to actively improve the general voter turn-out in 2023.
“This for me will build safer communities, strengthen the criminal justice system, enhance community participation in safety, help integrated approach to building safety, and promote equal opportunities and inclusion.
“Over the last two electoral cycles, including off season elections, voter turn-out across the country hovers around 30-35%; this unfavourably compares to the average voter turn-out of 65-70% of other countries, even in the West African region,” he said.
He added that, “This suffices to say for the 2023 general elections to witness a better/improved the predisposing factors for mental health conditions like social economic standard or the poverty level of Nigeria, the environmental factors, insecurity, arm conflicts and kidnapping among other things must be looked into and addressed properly.
“There should also be effective voter mobilisation and the fear of violence during election, stigma and discrimination of the key population should be looked into and by so doing, it would go a long way in cushioning the impact of mental health on the general population towards the 2023 general elections.”
Also speaking exclusively to Blueprint weekend, a politician, Mr. Oba Suraju, from Oyo state, said no matter how one looks at it, the scourge had positively affected poll results in the country in the past, stressing that “we did not notice the apparent apathy.”
When probed further, Suraju said, “Have you ever wondered why over five million people would register only for just slightly over two million voters to decide victory.
“What happened to the rest? It is either voter apathy, the lack of enough voter education and awareness or their state of mind at that particular time. The truth is that we are a nation that carries on as if all is well, yet the majorities are ill upstairs.
“Okay, let me shock you again. What of ballot-snatching and disruptions usually associated with elections in Nigeria? Do you think all of the people carrying out these are sponsored thugs?
“The answer is no because many of them are not in the right frame of mind and were registered. Yes, they will because nobody could have denied them their civic rights as enshrined in the constitution.
“Today, we have a lot of depressed people or let me say people with mental health issues as members of our political parties. Have you ever wondered why some internal political problems within a party are carried on to the election period? The answer is simple; it is simply because of the state of mind of some people which may probably not be working well. They will frustrate every peace move, ignite more fire and scatter the party tendency which will now become the order of the day and some people will follow them thinking they are talking sense not knowing that they are mentally unstable and that their party is now at the receiving ends of small matter that could be settled at meetings or local levels.”
