‘Suicide is preventable tragedy,’ says Prof. Sheikh at Vanguard’s 3rd Mental Health Summit

The Continental Representative for Lifeline International, Prof. Taiwo Sheikh, has called for urgent national attention to the growing rate of suicide in Nigeria, describing it as a preventable tragedy that has reached a crisis level.

Speaking as the keynote speaker at Vanguard’s 3rd Mental Health Summit held on Friday at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, Prof. Sheikh said: “I’m standing here today as an advocate. Suicide everywhere is a preventable tragedy; it refers basically to self-inflicted death. It is a situation one is compelled to end one’s life because of the weight one is experiencing, believing that when one exits, things will be better. If you look at the number of those which are intentionally self-inflicted measures in 100,000 people… If we look at the scope of the problem, suicide has attained a global crisis.

“The UN has declared it a global crisis. It takes 16,000 lives yearly — no other condition takes such lives, not Boko Haram, others — and yet Nigeria has not declared it as a crisis.”

Prof. Sheikh noted that globally, one in every hundred deaths is caused by suicide, with Africa recording the highest rate in the world.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29 worldwide, and the second leading cause in Africa, only behind road accidents, with about 15 cases per 100,000 people.

In Nigeria, WHO estimates suggest that around 15,000 people die by suicide annually, though the true figure is likely higher due to widespread underreporting and criminalisation of suicide attempts.

Citing a recent tragedy, Prof. Sheikh said, “For every one suicide death, about 20 to 25 others have attempted and failed — and if they failed once, they might attempt it again.”

Experts at the summit urged the Nigerian government to decriminalise attempted suicide, expand access to mental health care, and invest in early intervention systems to prevent avoidable deaths.

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