Last November, a popular Nigerian movie star, Mrs. Chacha Eke-Fanni, recounted how she struggled with bipolar disorder and its impact on her marriage.

According to her, she suddenly “went mad” and destroyed every one of her family’s belongings including her children’s toys.

She acknowledged at that time, the family was ignorant of mental illness and blamed everything and every one possible as they felt it was either a demonic attack or voodoo. 

“We attributed it to demonic attacks, voodoo, or marine spirit”, she had narrated.

Eke-Fanni was not the only celebrity who has suffered mental illness in recent times. Last year, another famous actress in the country, a woman, was reported to be struggling with a mental health condition.

Their experiences underscore the seriousness and level of prevalence of mental health problems in Nigeria.

According to a recent World Health Organization, WHO, statistics, about 50 million Nigerians or 25% of the country’s population are currently suffering from various degrees of mental illness or disorder and without access to psychiatric health care. This, according to the data, means that one in four Nigerians has one form of mental illness or the other.

The notion most people have about mental illness in Nigeria is that of people walking the streets naked or in tattered clothes, said Hannah Esuuknte, an Occupational Therapist at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, in Rivers State. Esuuknte, who is also a therapist at ELPIDA Shelter Rehabilitation Center, Port Harcourt, added that not many people were aware that depression, anger issues, eating disorders etc are mental ill health and as such, many don’t take their mental health as a priority.

"Of Mental Health, Voodoo, Evil Spirit:  A ticking time bomb in Nigeria - Vanguard News" https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/11/of-mental-health-voodoo-evil-spirit-a-ticking-time-bomb-in-nigeria/