60 million Nigerians are living with mental illness
Experts warn that more than 90 percent of Nigerians with mental illnesses have no access to professional treatment
Nigeria is grappling with mental illness, which psychiatrists describe as a mental health catastrophe. More than 60 million citizens are estimated to be living with mental illnesses, an alarming figure that calls for concern. Yet the vast majority remain locked out of proper care. This figure, highlighted by Prof. Taiwo Obindo, President of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), captures a crisis that has deep roots in decades of neglect.
Prof. Obindo, who also chairs the Faculty of Psychiatry at the West African College of Physicians, said this treatment gap is not accidental. It is the result of entrenched myths, chronic underfunding, and a critical shortage of trained professionals.
At the core of the problem is a severe workforce deficit. Nigeria has fewer than 200 psychiatrists serving a population of more than 200 million people. The reality is stark: millions who need care have no doctor to consult, no counsellor to see, and in several parts of the country, not a single psychiatric bed.
The World Health Organisation reports a deep mismatch between where services exist and where people live. Mental health facilities and specialists are heavily concentrated in urban centres, even though a significant share of Nigerians reside in rural communities. For these rural populations, the journey to treatment often means long distances, high costs, and limited options.
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This imbalance is worsening as mental health workers continue to leave the country. Prof. Obindo describes this as part of a growing “brain drain.” Poor remuneration, difficult working conditions, insecurity, and limited infrastructure push professionals out, while wealthier countries recruit them aggressively. This combination weakens an already fragile system and slows efforts to build local capacity.
Policy stagnation is also part of the problem. Nigeria’s Mental Health Policy, last reviewed in 2013, recommends integrating mental health into primary healthcare, yet this goal remains largely unrealised. Even though a new Mental Health Act was passed in 2021, it has not been fully implemented. For many Nigerians, the outdated “Lunacy Act” of 1916 still defines how mental illness is seen and managed.
Budget constraints further compound the crisis. Mental health receives a very small portion of national health funding. Without dedicated investment, Obindo and other experts say efforts to scale up services will remain rhetorical gestures rather than tangible reforms.
Beyond statistics, the crisis is intensely personal. For many Nigerians, getting help is not just about affordability or distance; it is a matter of survival. Stigma remains widespread. Beliefs linking mental illness to spiritual attacks, curses, or witchcraft continue to keep families away from medical treatment and push sufferers into isolation.
Prof. Obindo’s warning is clear: this is no longer a gap in healthcare but a national emergency. Until Nigeria invests in policy implementation, expands its mental health workforce, improves rural access, and challenges harmful myths, tens of millions of citizens will remain unseen, untreated, and left to suffer or roam the streets.
