Senate mulls law to decriminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria

The Senate Tuesday passed for second reading, a bill seeking to decriminalise attempted suicide in Nigeria.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by Asuquo Ekpenyong ( Cross River South) , seeks to remove the conflict between existing criminal laws that punish attempted suicide and the National Mental Health Act, which recognises the need for medical intervention in mental health emergencies.

Leading debate on the bill during plenary, Ekpenyong said the proposed amendment would establish a legal framework for suicide prevention, treatment and support for people who survive suicide attempts.

He explained that the central question before the Senate was whether the state should punish or protect a person who survives an attempt to take their own life.

“At the heart of this bill is a simple question. When a Nigerian survives a suicide attempt, should the first response of the state be persecution or protection?” he asked.

Ekpenyong noted that while the National Mental Health Act recognised attempted suicide as a psychiatric emergency requiring immediate intervention, Section 327 of the Criminal Code and Section 231 of the Penal Code continued to expose survivors to criminal punishment.

“Our law presently speaks with two voices,” he said, arguing that the contradiction needed to be resolved to ensure that people experiencing mental health crises received appropriate care.

The senator warned that criminalising attempted suicide could discourage people from seeking help, encourage families to conceal incidents and prevent health workers from reporting cases promptly.

Treating suicide attempts as criminal offences according to him, could also deepen the stigma surrounding mental health conditions and undermine efforts to gather reliable data for national suicide prevention programmes.

He said the proposed legislation would replace punitive responses with appropriate medical assessment, treatment and continuing support for survivors.

“The police station or correctional facility should not be the default destination for a person who requires urgent clinical care,” he stressed .

He added that the bill would provide for coordinated suicide prevention services, crisis response mechanisms, referral pathways and support for people who survive suicide attempts.

Supporting the proposal, lawmakers argued that survivors of suicide attempts should receive medical and psychological care rather than face criminal prosecution.

Specifically Senator Dayo Adeduyile ( Ondo South) , who cited his experience practising medicine, said attempted suicide should be approached as a medical emergency rather than a criminal offence.

He argued that depression and other mental health conditions could impair a person’s judgement, making it necessary to prioritise treatment and recovery.

The senator said some people who survived suicide attempts had subsequently taken their lives while in detention, warning that imprisonment or police custody could not adequately address the underlying medical condition.

“The best way to treat anybody who did not succumb to a suicide attempt is actually not to criminalise it. They need help,” he declared.

In his submission, Abdul Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central, commended Ekpenyong for bringing the issue before the Senate, describing it as an important legal and public health debate that had not received sufficient attention.

Ningi said the second reading would allow the proposal to proceed for further scrutiny, public consultation and contributions from professionals and other stakeholders.

However thebSenate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele ( Ekiti Central), in his submission , cautioned that some provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act were not automatically applicable across all states, depending on the legal framework adopted by their respective Houses of Assembly.

He said the Senate needed to establish the extent to which the proposed amendment would apply nationally before proceeding with the legislation.

The bill was accordingly passed for second reading by the Senate for more legislative inputs by its committee on Judiciary , Human Rights and Legal Matters .