Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, has issued a dire warning, alleging that the economic hardship currently being experienced is causing a deepening mental health crisis that is mentally affecting Nigerians. The former Governor of Anambra State used the commemoration of Mental Health Dayon October 10 to lament the troubling state of the nation’s psychological well-being, attributing the surge in hopelessness to poverty and mass unemployment.
In a statement posted on his official X handle, Obi cited a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report, which estimated that approximately 40 million people in Nigeria are currently living with mental health conditions. He highlighted the severe inadequacy of the nation’s healthcare infrastructure, pointing out that there are fewer than 300 psychiatrists available to attend to the country’s huge population, a clear sign of the government’s “growing disinterest and neglect of the health sector.”
The political leader emphasised that mental well-being is of equal importance to physical health, asserting that the daily struggle for survival has pushed many citizens, especially the youth, toward “hopelessness, criminality and an increasing rate of suicide.” This link between economic despair and a breakdown in mental health frames the issue not just as a medical problem but as a direct consequence of a failing economy marked by rampant poverty and joblessness.
Obi called for the government to treat the situation with the utmost urgency, labelling it a “public health emergency.” To address the issue, he proposed a massive investment in mental health infrastructure, including the provision of more mental health professionals and well-equipped psychiatric hospitals across all geopolitical zones of the country. He argued that Nigeria’s progress should not be measured by the wealth of its leaders but by the “human capital, which is the well-being of its people.”
