‘FG needs to place mental health on spotlight’

A mental health advocate, Diana Eyo Enoette, has called on the government and stakeholders in the health sector to place the spotlight on people dealing with mental health issues in Nigeria. The author and mental health advocate stated this as part of preparedness for the Premier of her film “I am one”. BREAKING: Salah breaks […]

A mental health advocate, Diana Eyo Enoette, has called on the government and stakeholders in the health sector to place the spotlight on people dealing with mental health issues in Nigeria.

The author and mental health advocate stated this as part of preparedness for the Premier of her film “I am one”.

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Speaking with journalists, she added that the film is a true life story of herself where she was kidnapped when she was five years old.

She said: “On my way back home from school in Katsina (North-West Nigeria), I was kidnapped.

“For the next 5 hours, I was gagged, blindfolded, and convinced that my demise was imminent.

“This was 30 years ago, I was 5 years old, and I am still working through the trauma of that awful day while raising my daughter in Abuja, Nigeria.”

The mental health advocate further explained that her short film is structured to bring awareness to the human cost of violence towards girls children across Nigeria.

“It emphasizes the need for better security measures, and celebrate the road to healing that all victims must walk while highlighting the importance of the subject of mental health at the front burner of health discussions in Nigeria.

“Nigeria risks a lost generation if we don’t protect our Girls”.

In the same vein, she noted that her intervention is also geared towards ending the abduction of school children in Northern Nigeria.

“Decades on, from my personal experience, the unfortunate reality is that many more Nigerian girls are being abducted around what should be the safe space of a school.

“7 years from Boko Haram abducting 279 girls from Chibok (#BringBackOurGirls), between December 2020 and March 2021, there have been at least five reported cases of mass abductions of school children in northern Nigeria”.

Diana said her documentary seeks to address the need to build institutions that cater to the mental and emotional wellbeing of victims.

“The damage experienced is more than what meets the eye. These unseen elements are the biggest barriers to healing.

“Going to school should not be a matter of life and death. Public authorities have failed to learn critical lessons from the experience of the Chibok girls.

“There is a lack of justice and accountability. Over 600 schools are closed for the fear of attacks across the country, communities are withdrawing their daughters and sons from schools out of fear, and the cycle of poverty is being perpetuated,” she said.