Amidst communal conflicts and farmer-herder crises in Benue, the Edawu Community Mental Health Centre offers a lifeline to traumatized victims. Once a thriving, solar-powered haven for mental health recovery, the centre now faces funding shortages, forcing it to scale down operations. With its solar power failing and resources dwindling, the future of this vital facility remains uncertain, threatening access to mental health care for those who need it most.
Mr. Andrew Iyopa, 54 years old, had recently secured a ₦15 million loan from different community groups in Aadokwu, Ukpute community, his hometown in Benue State. Iyopa had committed to repaying the loan within 12 months, after which he would be required to pay a monthly default fee. He invested the money in his two most productive ventures: farming and a provisions store.
Iyopa soon became the major go-to person in the community as his provision store, located in “Ihiobila” a well-attended community market flourished, and his yam farm was also showing signs of good harvest. However, Iyopa’s life was about to take a drastic turn, and it did turn for the worse, no thanks to the intercommunal crisis between Ukpute community in Oju LGA and Konshisha LGA of Benue state in 2021.
A few months after Iyopa took the loan, the long-standing inter-communal clash in Bonta, a nearby town to Iyopa’s Ukpute community, resumed with more tension.
School razed down during bonta-ukpute communal clash in Benue state
Iyopa was able to escape with his family to the nearby Ukpa community, but what Iyopa couldn’t get off his chest was that his N15 million-naira loan had just been gone up in flames as his provision store got burned to ashes instantly, the yam farm soon became the food for the warring communities.
The incident left Iyopa stranded and dejected. Depression soon set in. That was all Iyopa could remember until months later when he realised himself in Edawu Community Health Centre.
Iyopa wasn’t alone in the fix
Ode Raphael, 48, from the Ogonari community was bundled to the Edawu Community Mental Health Centre in 2018 by his community members when they discovered that Ode was out of behaviour.
Ode had invested his life savings in rice farming in Guma local government through the help of his friend, who secured land for him. He was staying in Makurdi, the Benue state capital at the time.
However, the farmer-herders clashes that claimed 73 lives in Benue state leading to mass burial in 2018 unfortunately claimed his “life’s savings”
“Ode’s behaviour became erratic” Alo Ode, Raphael’s brother, explained.
“Initially, we were hesitant to take him to “Edawu”, but we heard stories of how mentally ill people got healed in the centre, we went there and today, He is here, hearty.
Alo explained that there is a stigma that is attached to someone who’s been to a mental health centre and “we were not ready to have him tagged a madman from Edawu.”
However, we made a move, almost like breaking the jinx and it was a successful outing.
Experts agrees with Data
insurgencies like Boko haram, farmer-herders clashes, and inter/intra communal clashes that have just displaced Iyopa and Raphael are believed to have driven an estimated 20%–30% of the Nigerian over 200 million population into mental disorders.
Dr. Aloni Clinton, a lecturer with the Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Rumuola, Port Harcourt, Nigeria explained that climate induced disasters like drought “leads to serious repercussions on productive capacities and basic social services.”
A position that Aliyu Sadiq, an environmental consultant and the founder of the Ecocykle Development Foundation agrees with, when he says that fighting for limited resources sometimes causes, among other things, migration. “At that point, people compete for limited resources, moving from place to place, leading to crises all over.”
Spiral story
Raphael’s and Iyopa’s story helped ignite a wave of confidence through many communities in the Oju Local Government Area as Mrs Ominyi, the surviving wife of Chief Imoke Ominyi’s six wives was later helped into the Edawu Community facility when her health deteriorated after several communal attacks in the Ojunmole community, Gwer West Local Government in Benue state.
Mrs Ominyi, “Inene” as she is fondly called lost her husband and three children in one night late in 2021 when a group of community militants called Bonta boys attacked the Ochoro-Ojunmole community.
Inene, 59 ran to an IDP camp in a nearby village and was there for a year before she returned home. It appeared that Inene was coping with her new reality of no husband and no child, but what wasn’t clear to her relatives was that Inene was never the same, she was never happy with anything again, and her life seemed to her like nothing as she will often go to the main road to “look”.
“She would never have had access to any help as we did not know how to help. Usually, things like that, she will be allowed to stay until her death day, which will make the death a taboo. We later heard of Edawu, who they say was helping “Mad” people regain their sanity, we took her there” Lazarus Ogiji, the brother of the deceased husband who helped “Inene” access medical care explained.
Mental Health
The story of Iyopa, Ode and Inene are a part of the larger story in North Central, and Nigeria at large.
While there are various versions to statistics around displacement in Nigeria, Samuel Ortom, the former governor of Benue state announced in 2022 that over 2 million people in Benue were languishing in Internally Displaced Camps across the states.
In this news release, The WHO says, “public health emergencies, war, and the climate crisis are among the global, structural threats to mental health.”
Although the government of Nigeria have a National Policy for Mental Health Service Delivery where it “reaffirm that health, including mental wellbeing, is the inalienable right of every Nigerian, and that mental, neurological and substance abuse (MNS) care shall be made available to all citizens within the national health system at the level of primary health care (PHC) and in communities’’ Studies have revealed that “only around 10% of those with diagnoses MNS disorders receive any treatment within the previous 12 months”
…… The Help
To address the issues of mental health delivery in Nigeria, “Good quality community-based services with hospital support has been shown to be the most effective form of comprehensive mental health care” the national policy stated.
Tucked away in the serene Utabiji community, along the winding Oju-Obusa-Idelle-Utonkon road, lies a thriving nineteen-bed space capacity mental health haven – the Edawu Community Mental Health Centre.
The place was made of a good, serene environment, wall painted blue, and different trees like; orange, mangoes surrounding the place, there was “Nepa light” all day and night making it like “London” Inene, who was there described.
“At the time I was there, we were over ten patients, receiving treatment at a time. We were introduced to several recreational activities like games, roundtable discussions, questions and answers, and many other activities that helped our reasoning become better.”
Edawu Community Mental HealthCare Centre
A visit to the Edawu Community Mental Center, a serene environment, the calm weather and a welcoming nature breeze blew through my rolled-up sleeve as I approached the entrance.
It took just a few minutes for me to see about 6 solar panels installed, and an energy bulb hooked to worn-out wires.
Front view of the Edawu community mental health centre
Dr. Innocent Ekeke. PhD, a mental health practitioner who is the welfare director of the centre explained that, “Six years ago, the centre was a marvel of innovation with optimum equipment that are adequately solar-powered.”
“Our main use of power was for storage of some drugs just to maintain temperature and also for easy movement in the night. A few other gadgets like televisions, radio sets and a few other petty things were here” he explained.
Dr. Ekeke said the facility was established over ten years ago by a group of missionaries in the Utabiji community who saw the need to help the community navigate issues of mental breakdown.
“The goal was to make sure there are no people with mental issues in the community and the nearby town” He explained.
Initially, what we did was, we went “hunting” looking for people with mental disorders and caught them at the facility. Treat them and send them back to society.
Dr. Innocent Ekeke; Welfare Director, ECMHC showing this reporter some sections of the care facility
When asked why the Edawu Community Mental Health Centre opted for solar energy, Mr. Ekeke explained “that the community saw that the maintenance was cheaper. Once installed, it lights continuously with natural recharging. We do not have to pay for utilities nor any hidden fees.”
Limitations To Solutions
“The initial community perceptions of mentally disordered people, where villagers stigmatise and even bury those who are dead of mental issues in the evil forest is now dead. Our major challenge now is that of funding”, Mr Ijale Titus, a staff of the facility chipped in.
He explained that the centre has not accessed funds for about four years now. Even funds to run the centre itself is not available, not to talk of carrying out treatments.
We no longer take in patients to our facilities; we established relationships with different Primary health clinics and created awareness with local communities to organise days of treatment. So, their relatives will bring them, we offer treatment, and therapeutic sessions routinely.
Mr. Ekeke is afraid that the centre might fold up soon as it is gradually becoming a shadow of itself. Even the solar we so much pride on has packed up, we do not have enough resources to revitalise it.
This report is published in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch through the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative.
Jairus Awo is a Nigerian Multimedia public interest journalist. He believes in the power of the media as a catalyst for development and societal growth. You can tip him an idea on Jairus@themiddlebelt.ng
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