Historicizing mental health care services in Lagos, Nigeria, 1960-1991

Abstract

This article examines the developmental stages of both orthodox and unorthodox mental health care services  in Lagos since 1960, acknowledging that conventional services, as against the hitherto custodial care actively began in the same year. Using aspects of the Social Development Theory, it argues that in spite of the  apparent transformations witnessed in mental health since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the provision of actual services in this regard remained inadequate. It examines the chronological developments and how  government’s intervention, through the enactments of policies or legislations, establishment of institutions, committees, regulatory bodies and other non-governmental institutions and individuals influenced the provision of services. It concludes by demonstrating the inadequacies of government and other stakeholders in this regard and why the adoption of the Mental Health Policy in 1991 in Lagos, the then administrative capital of Nigeria, became inevitable.