Professor Taiwo Lateef Sheikh of Ahmadu Bello University has highlighted a dire situation in Nigeria, where fewer than 300 psychiatrists are available to support a population exceeding 200 million. Speaking at a recent public lecture, he emphasized that systemic failures, including chronic underfunding and a lack of community-based services, have created a massive gap in care.
Although Nigeria enacted a Mental Health Act in December 2022, Sheikh warned that the legislation will remain ineffective without proper financial backing and the training of additional personnel. He pointed out that mental health resources are currently restricted to a few federal hospitals in major cities, leaving rural populations without access. Less than 3.5 percent of the national health budget is allocated to mental health, a figure he labeled unsustainable.
To combat this, Sheikh proposed shifting care to primary health centers and utilizing non-specialist health workers to provide support, a practice known as task-shifting. This approach aims to keep treatment accessible at the community level rather than relying solely on centralized psychiatric institutions. Furthermore, he noted that the government must protect the rights of patients and integrate mental health services into broader sectors like education and employment.
Other experts, including Professor Oye Gureje and Dr. Mohammed Abdulaziz from the Africa CDC, supported these calls for reform. They underscored that leaders must move beyond rhetoric, replace outdated colonial-era laws with modern, rights-based frameworks, and ensure that mental health remains a priority in national policy to secure future economic and social stability.
