Ondo committed to tackling mental health, drug abuse — Aiyedatiwa

Ondo Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has pledged his administration’s commitment to addressing the rising challenge of mental health disorders and drug abuse in the state and country.

Aiyedatiwa, who stated this during the commissioning of a neuropsychiatric facility, Minds Medica Specialist Hospital and Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Ondo City, said the new hospital would provide timely intervention for individuals and families struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse.

According to the governor, who described the facility as a “beacon of hope hailed the initiative of the founder, a former lawmaker and medical doctor, Dr.Jibayo Adeyeye, noting that it stands as a beacon of hope to those affected by mental illness and substance abuse.

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He said: “Minds Medica’s mission to provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality mental health services is a bold commitment to preserving the well-being of our people in body, mind, and spirit.

“We are not just opening a healthcare facility; we are also sending a powerful message that mental health matters. Seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”

Speaking during the inauguration of the hospital, Dr. Adeyeye said the idea was propelled out of lack of adequate facilities to address risk factors and treat people battling mental disorders and critical dearth in accessible care, particularly in Ondo.

According to him, the centre was established to fill the critical gap in treatment facilities, especially in Ondo State, where only the government-owned neuropsychiatric hospital in Akure had been available.

“Drug abuse is an epidemic in our society. It is an emergency that requires urgent action,” Adeyeye said, stressing that the hospital was established more as a mission than a profit-driven venture.

“Mental ailment is not the end of life. It is actually treatable. In Ondo, there is only one spot where you can be treated for mental illness or drug addiction, and that is the neuropsychiatric hospital in Akure, which is being run by the government.

“With the rate of intake of hard drugs and mental issues in the country, we need to be very worried as a country. We need to be proactive.

“The problem is huge; it is an underestimation that it is a problem. Drug abuse is an epidemic in our society. It is an emergency; it is a problem everybody must be alert to in order to stamp it out of our society. It is a big problem, and we need to work seriously on it.”

Also speaking, Professor of Medicine, Olufunke Adeyeye, linked rising cases of suicide to hard drug use among young people, and warned that untreated patients often end up abandoned on the streets or confined without care.

While lamenting over consequences of insufficient treatment infrastructure, she said, “If they don’t die, they are locked up somewhere or on the street with no productivity and suffering. When one mental issue is in a family, the whole family suffers.

“We have a lot of young people in schools, and even at home, they take all sorts of drugs, and they end up having nervous breakdowns, and that constitutes another problem for the society. It is a threat to the stability and safety of other people.”

Similarly, Dr. Dokun Adedeji, CEO of Compassionate Care Recovery Initiative, emphasized that rehabilitation is possible, but stigma remains the biggest barrier.

Adedeji, while delivering the lecture on ‘The Burden of Mental Health Disorder and Drug Addiction in Nigeria’, cited successful recovery stories, including individuals who have become doctors and lawyers, to demonstrate that rehabilitation is possible.

Adedeji identified stigma as the core obstacle in the fight against mental ailments, stating that “from estimates, about 25% to 30% of Nigerians have one mental issue or the other. And even they say about 15% in the course of their lifetime will have it.

“People can be helped and then live a better life, and they become productive. So it’s not a condemnation. But I think what the problem is in Nigeria is the stigma.“