Health
Prioritise suicide prevention bill, CSOs tell NASS
Civil society organisations have called on the National Assembly to prioritise the passage of the National Suicide Prevention Bill, 2024.
This, they said, would complement the proposed amendment to the National Mental Health Act 2021, which seeks to decriminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Mental Health and the Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group made the call in a statement on Wednesday while reacting to the Federal Executive Council’s approval of an amendment to the National Mental Health Act 2021 to decriminalise attempted suicide.
The CSOs commended the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, and executive leadership for taking what they described as a “critical step toward reframing self-harm as a public health issue rather than a criminal offense”.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the FEC had, on August 19, 2026, approved an amendment to the National Mental Health Act to decriminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria.
Pate disclosed that the reform is targeted at reducing suicide deaths and attempts by 15 per cent by 2030.
But the CSOs said that while decriminalising attempted suicide is a vital first step, the legislative arm must now prioritise passage of the legislation to ensure it becomes law before this session closes.
The Founder of Nigerian Mental Health, Chime Asonye, said removing penal sanctions alone cannot resolve Nigeria’s suicide crisis.
According to Asonye, sustainable progress requires comprehensive public health architecture and systemic reform.
“A person who survives a suicide attempt needs a clinician, not a charge sheet. The Council has now said so, and that matters.
“But the Mental Health Act 2021 was passed and then left without the statutory department to operationalize the law. The Minister’s target of reducing suicide deaths and attempts by 15 percent by 2030 will not be met by repealing a law alone,” Asonye said.
The CSOs added, “To achieve lasting impact, the National Assembly must prioritise the National Suicide Prevention Bill 2024, which is currently before parliament.
“Unlike piecemeal legal amendments, this bill 1 offers a holistic framework to capture suicide and suicidality data, establish crisis intervention services, allocate dedicated funding, and provide specialised training for healthcare workers and first responders.”
The CSOs further caution that amending the National Mental Health Act 2021 — which itself has never been fully operationalised — carries a serious governance risk.
Over three years on, they added that the Department of Mental Health Services mandated by the Act remains unestablished and unfunded, and most states have yet to domesticate the law.
They added that without that machinery, decriminalisation risks becoming a paper repeal.
Reacting, the Convener, Nigeria Suicide Prevention Advocacy Working Group, Prof. Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, said, “The amendment and the National Suicide Prevention Bill are two halves of one reform: one removes the punishment, the other builds what should be there instead.
“Passing one without the other leaves the work unfinished. The executive has moved; the question now belongs to the National Assembly: whether both pass in this session or wait for another. Every year they wait is counted in lives.”
The CSOs, however, urged the National Assembly to fast-track passage of the National Suicide Prevention Bill currently before parliament.
“The bill provides a permanent, comprehensive framework for suicide prevention, data surveillance, and crisis intervention, while also beginning to address underlying social determinants of mental distress, ensuring better alignment between health and justice institutions,” they said.
The CSOs also recommended the operationalisation of the Department of Mental Health Services and ensuring draft transparency.
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