Hauwa Ojeifo says while Nigeria’s mental health law is commendable, it has not translated into the realities of everyday people.

A 10-year impact report by She Writes Woman (SWW) has identified the South-west, particularly Lagos State, as the region with the highest number of reported mental health distress cases in Nigeria.

A landmark report by the NGO She Writes Woman (SWW) reveals a sobering reality – nearly 55% of Nigerians seeking mental health support have reported suicidal thoughts.

She Writes Woman (SWW) has disclosed that its 24/7 toll-free mental health helpline has recorded over 25,000 interventions and averted more than 200 potential suicides across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones in the last 10 years.

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Rather than retreat into silence, as is most often the only choice for people with mental health conditions in Nigeria, Ojeifo converted her experiences into action using her organisation, SWW, as a safe space for conversations, hope, support and collective healing.

A billion people face mental health challenges. Too often — especially for women — they’re met with control, not compassion.

As we continue to scale our groundbreaking work, we are looking to recruit young people to grow with us. Energetic, experienced and passionate about mental health, human rights and disability rights are some of the qualities we are scouting for at our HQ in Abuja.

As we continue to scale our groundbreaking work, we are looking to recruit young people to grow with us. Energetic, experienced and passionate about mental health, human rights and disability rights are some of the qualities we are scouting for at our HQ in Abuja.

Hauwa Ojeifo looks back on her decision to speak out about her struggles with mental health not as a choice, but an obligation. “Keeping quiet was literally a life-or-death situation,” she says. “And so I started to talk.”

Our ideal Advocacy & Research Officer is a person with strong advocacy background, sound knowledge of Nigerian laws and previous work experience in policy or legislative advocacy with a particular focus on disability rights. You will need stellar communication skills to interface with legislators and other stakeholders and will need to know the inner workings of law-making in Nigeria. A strong human rights activist, our ideal candidate must be passionate about mental health with a background in upholding Nigeria’s international human rights commitments.

Findings by the FCT Police confirm that Faiz Muhammad has never earned a qualification as a “clinical psychologist”, “psychologist” or “therapist” as he had been claiming to the public since 2017, his victims and during the initial stages of the police investigation. Other victims reported sexual impropriety by Faiz Muhammad during therapeutic relationships amongst other allegations undergoing further investigations.

Recall that since the push by various stakeholders in the early 2000s to pass a mental health law, the year 2020 witnessed the first time people with psychosocial disabilities were included in the process.

As She Writes Woman, we advise all our stakeholders to refrain from conducting any dealings with Faiz Muhammad who is no longer a staff of the organisation.

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People are now increasingly showing signs of anxiety and depression even if prior to now they didn’t have those experiences and that is because we are in an unusual situation.

When my condition is not seen as something that is wrong with me but as a set of qualities that my environment is yet to adapt to, people with mental health conditions are no longer seen as a problem that needs to be fixed, cured and solved.

In January 2021, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) interviewed Hauwa to learn more about the work that She Writes Woman does to empower Nigerians with psychosocial disabilities and mental health conditions to participate in political life.

"We need more unashamed conversations. We need to undress mental health and begin to ensure that we're allowing people to lean into that conversation," she adds.

To celebrate her win, Stylist spoke with Ojeifo to discuss her work with She Writes Woman, and find out more about the problems faced by people with mental health conditions in Nigeria, and what change she’d like to see over the next couple of years.