Lol! are Nigerians really mad?

The Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has made a damning revelation, saying more than 60 million Nigerians are suffering from several degrees of mental disorder out of the estimated 170 million people in the country

A mental disorder, also called a mental illness^[1] or psychiatric disorder, is a diagnosis, most often by a psychiatrist, of a behavioral or mental pattern that may cause suffering or a poor ability to function in life. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders.

In an interaction with newsmen in Abeokuta, the state capital, Dr. Ipaye said that about 80 percent of people move about with mental disorder without knowing or seeking for help, while 20-25 percent live with a full blown mental disorder in the country, with such cases ranging from simple minor mood disorder to extreme cases of mental accreditation, adding that one out of every five Nigerians has an extreme mental disorder.

Dr. Ipaye added that other pressures are expectation and disappointment and advocated that community mental homes should be created across the country to socially managed mental disorder at the grassroots level.

Many Nigerians have come to agree with Dr. Ipaye with the reasoning that the current situation in the country is enough to drive someone mad.

Duro Adeniji, in his reaction, said:

"Why won't Nigerians run mad with the situation in the country? We are suffering but still, the government keeps telling us to be patient. No one is smiling.

Before they came into power, they promised us heaven and earth, and more than one year now, all they do is blame the past government for the suffering we are going through. The suffering in Nigeria is enough to make one go crazy."

For Ebuka Eze, the number could even be higher than what Dr. Ipaye mentioned.

"I am sure the Commissioner was just being mild because there could be more than the 60 million he mentioned going by what is happening in the country today. Nigerians have been driven to insanity with the ineptitude of this present government.

We thought they meant well for us and we voted out the PDP but what has the APC repaid Nigerians with? Hardship, suffering, and lamentation. Now they say the change should start with us yet when you see government officials displaying their ill-gotten wealth, only a strong person would not lose his mind. It is so sad."