Nigeria Is Finally Removing the Law That Jails You For Surviving. Yes, That Law Was Real

So Nigeria has decided, in the year 2026, after over 100 years of independence, that perhaps arresting someone for not dying is not the most compassionate response to a mental health crisis. Progress, people. Write it down.

Health Minister Ali Pate announced this month that the federal government is moving to decriminalise attempted suicide, which means sending a bill to the National Assembly to remove Section 327 of the Criminal Code, a colonial-era law that has, since 1916, given Nigeria the legal authority to send a person who survived the worst moment of their life directly to prison for up to one year. You read that correctly. You survive. You go to jail. Nigeria then sends you a bill for the handcuffs.

The minister said, again, with a straight face, in front of cameras, that criminalising suicide "discourages help-seeking behaviours." Sir. You think? You think the reason people are not calling for help is the one-year prison sentence waiting on the other side of the phone call? You don't say.

Nigeria records roughly 300,000 suicide attempts every year. At least 7,000 people die. The country has fewer than 1,000 psychiatrists for over 200 million people. To put that in perspective: there are more members of the Nigerian Senate than there are psychiatrists per state. The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria has said, quite rightly, that decriminalisation must come with actual investment in mental health services. Otherwise we are simply removing the jail and replacing it with nothing, which is its own kind of colonial tradition.

To be fair, the government says it wants to reduce suicide deaths by 15 percent by 2030. They have targets. They have frameworks. They have task forces. What they do not yet have is the bill passed, the psychiatrists hired, or the stigma addressed.

But we are moving. In Nigeria, moving is nothing.

Sometimes it is everything.

If you or anyone you know is struggling, please reach out to the Suicide Research and Prevention Initiative (SURPIN) Nigeria: 08111909909.