The words that travelled
There is a particular silence that falls over a ward when someone is brought in after trying to end their life. It is not judgement but the silence of people who know that something precious has nearly been lost.
I have sat in that silence many times and seen patients unable to stop apologising and families arrive frightened, bewildered and grieving. Never, in any of those rooms, did it occur to me that what the person needed was a prison cell.
So, when a short video began travelling around social media in October 2026, it landed heavily. During the Senate debate on the National Suicide Prevention Bill 2026, the President of the Senate was reported to have said that anyone who attempts suicide should make sure they die, because if they survive, they will go to jail.
The Senate President has since clarified that this was not his personal opinion, but a statement of what the current law provides, the very law this bill seeks to replace. We accept that clarification in good faith. Yet that is precisely the point. If the law, stated plainly, sounds that cruel when spoken aloud then it is the law that must change.
Those of us who work with people in their darkest hours know that words travel further than their intent. Somewhere in Nigeria, a person already convinced that the world would be better without them may have heard that sentence and believed it.
A law older than our independence
In Nigeria, attempting suicide remains a crime. Section 327 of the Criminal Code provides for up to a year in prison, while Section 231 of the Penal Code provides for imprisonment, a fine, or both.
These provisions are remnants of the colonial era. Britain itself abandoned this approach with the Suicide Act 1961. Many of us now practise in the very country that wrote that law, and we have seen what happens when a nation chooses care and compassion over punishment.
People come forward and are able to speak up. Families receive the care and support they need and the society is better off for it.
On 13 October 2026, the Senate passed the National Suicide Prevention Bill 2026 (SB 730), sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, at second reading. It seeks to replace criminal punishment with crisis support, medical assessment, referral, rehabilitation and follow-up care. That is a humane step forward which now in danger of being drowned out by a single remark.
You cannot punish pain away
Around 16,000 Nigerians die by suicide each year, according to WHO figures cited during the Senate debate. Behind every one of those deaths is a family left asking what they missed.
For everyone in suicidal distress, one road should lead to a clinic, a listening ear, a treatment plan and a way back. It should not lead to a police station and a charge sheet or shame.
The law as it stands pushes people down the second road. We already live in a society where depression may be dismissed as laziness, spiritual weakness or lack of faith. Criminalising attempted suicide does not challenge that stigma but rather gives it the force of law.
As Dr Hal Abdullahi, President of Nigerian Psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, puts it: “Suicidal distress is a wound to be tended, not a wrong to be punished… You cannot punish someone out of pain; you can only help them find their way through it.”
Far from home, never far from you
Those of us in the diaspora carry Nigeria with us. We carry it in our accents, in the way we greet our elders, in the pots of soup we cook on cold English evenings.
We also carry the stories that reach us from home: the cousin who stopped picking up the phone, the classmate whose death was quietly called “an illness”, the family that never spoke of it again.
Many Nigerian psychiatrists were trained at home before coming here. We were shaped by Nigerian teachers and Nigerian patients. When we speak now, we do not speak as outsiders lecturing from afar. We speak as children of the soil who want for our people the same compassion we are able to offer our patients here.
We are not alone in this. Our colleagues across the Black and African diaspora in British psychiatry stand with us.
“Decriminalising attempted suicide is both an ethical and compassionate step that recognises the needs of individuals experiencing severe mental distress and mental illness.
“At one of the most vulnerable periods of their lives, such individuals require understanding, care and support rather than criminal sanctions. The Association of Black Psychiatrists UK wholeheartedly welcomes this important development and expresses its strong support for the proposed reforms.
“We sincerely hope that the legislative process is concluded swiftly, resulting in the enactment of a progressive and humane law that promotes suicide prevention, protects vulnerable individuals and advances mental health care in Nigeria.”
— Dr Mosun Fapohunda, President, Association of Black Psychiatrists UK (ABP-UK)
A matter of health, not crime
Nigeria would not be reinventing the wheel. Country after country has removed these penalties, and the World Health Organization has long urged the rest to follow. This is for a simple reason – suicide prevention works only when people feel safe enough to ask for help.
The bill before the Senate understands this. It builds something in place of an offence: a number to call, a professional to assess, a pathway into care, and someone to check in afterwards. We have also heard the honest questions raised in the chamber about how reform will apply where the Penal Code operates as state law. Those questions deserve careful answers.
“I strongly support the decriminalisation of suicide. Suicide should be recognised as a public health and mental health issue, not a criminal offence. Criminalisation can deepen stigma, discourage people from seeking help and compound the distress experienced by individuals and families.
“We must replace punishment with compassion, prioritise prevention, improve access to mental healthcare and create environments where people feel safe to seek support. Every life matters, and our response must be grounded in dignity, understanding and humanity.”
— Dr Shahid Latif, Chair, Royal College of Psychiatrists Diaspora Groups Committee
“Onye aghala nwanne ya”
To our distinguished senators: you have already taken an important step by passing this bill at second reading. History will remember not what was said in a moment of jest, but what was done when it mattered. Please see the bill through.
To every Nigerian reading this: notice the friend who has gone quiet; sit with the relative who seems far away; ask twice when someone says, “I’m fine.” And to the person struggling in silence: your life matters. Reaching out is neither a crime nor a weakness. It is the bravest thing a person can do.
Among the Igbos there is a saying: “Onye aghala nwanne ya” – “Let no one abandon their brother or sister.”
A nation shows its humanity in how it meets people at their most broken.
Not with handcuffs but with open arms.
Dr Udoka Onyechere is a Forensic Psychiatrist completing her residency in CNTW and serves as Officer for Strategic Priorities for Nigerian Psychiatrists in the United Kingdom (NPUK), a Royal College of Psychiatrists Diaspora group. She hails from Imo State, Nigeria.
If you are struggling or worried about someone, please reach out to a doctor, a trusted person or a local support line.
