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Mental health legislation in Nigeria: current leanings and future yearnings

Part of: BJPsych International Mental Health Law Profile Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Adegboyega O. Ogunlesi  and
Adegboyega Ogunwale
Adegboyega O. Ogunlesi
Affiliation:
Forensic Unit, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria, email ogunlesi1952@yahoo.com
Adegboyega Ogunwale
Affiliation:
Forensic Unit, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria, email ogunlesi1952@yahoo.com
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Abstract

Nigeria's current mental health legislation stems from a lunacy ordinance enacted in 1916 that assumed the status of a law in 1958. The most recent attempt to reform the law was with an unsuccessful Mental Health Bill in 2003. Currently, though, efforts are being made to represent it as an executive Bill sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Health. The present paper reviews this Bill, in particular in light of the World Health Organization's recommendations on mental health legislation.

Type
Mental health law profiles
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , August 2012 , pp. 62 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2012 

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