 According to Samantha Power, all advocacy at its core is an exercise in empathy. Welcome to the Advocate, five panelists, five thought-provoking topics discussed in a no-holds-barred manner. In other words, we call a spade by its name. Provoking my thought today is whether in the slightest way the government has any responsibility in looking after the mental health of its citizens. Shalakuti is telling us today that the biggest problem in Nigeria stems from poverty and not corruption. Joining us for the first time, Enno Edoh, is here to debunk talks about youths being the sole solution to Nigeria's problem in what she terms old wine in new skin. Another debutante on the show today is Enito Ibiroke, and she's pointing her spotlight to the dangers of irregular migration. Last but not least, my intelligent friend, Kunde Lawal, educates us on the importance of the third tier of government. It's a ray of topical issues spiced with seriousness and laughter. Don't go anywhere, we will be right back after this break. Sour grapes and more. The recent Twitter guard decree by the Nigerian federal government is one in the plethora of occurrences that have left millions of young Nigerians with feelings of absolute disgust, annoyance, and deep-seathed frustration. Now, more than ever before, the focus on mental health has taken the front burner, and a look at popular means on the internet and social media showcases a general sense of apathy between government and the governed, as government is perceived at every turn of deliberately promulgating policies and instituting decisions that have negative bearing on the mental health of citizens. Which brings me to the crux of my advocacy today. To what extent is it the duty of national, state, and local leadership to protect the sanity and mental zen of the people? Does this even fall within the direct or indirect spectrum of government's responsibility? Or is it simply sour grapes, where every citizen takes responsibility for their own mental health, turning lemons into lemonade, and working to entrench internal equilibrium for themselves? As a 15-year-old SS3 student in boarding school, a housemate once said to me, Why do you have a permanent frown on your face? You always look so unhappy. Now, on the knowns to him, myself and others, who may surreptitiously have had the same thoughts about my facial construct, at the time, during my teenage years, I was battling depression and daily suicidal thoughts. Yet, I was the most talented, the most cheerful, the most creative, and arguably one of the most brilliant students at the University International School, comprising a student body of about 600 adolescents. My teenage years, as with virtually everybody's, were particularly difficult. The challenges of a boy child who did not conform to the stereotypes of his male-dominated patriarchal society are humongous. These took such a severe toll on me, in ways I could neither then imagine or now tell. Being an adolescent in itself is tough. Add that to being different from your peers, in mannerism, thinking, and approach to life. I've often said that the singular reason I did not go through with ending things was because from time, my threshold for physical pain has always been very small, and I could not find a painless way to die. What is more, even if I did find a painless escape, having been raised Pentecostal Christian, the realities of a painful hell where people who committed acts such as suicide go to for an eternity of torment left me feeling mortally terrified. My immediate family, that's my parents and my siblings, played a major role in keeping my zen. Not for a second in my 39 years of life have they made me feel different in a negative way. Thank God I'm here today to tell the story. Now looking back at how external factors, even at that level, was a supreme deciding factor in determining my mental health and well-being. How much more do the actions or inaction of governments impact on the mental health of her citizens? I have always said that suicide should not be the great wake-up call to mental health issues, sadly it is. I am however left wondering and hoping that unlike observed in other clients, Nigerian citizens do not have to resort to suicide before our leaders rise to the challenge of our mental health needs. Wow, a lot about mental health. The thing is, I don't even think the Nigerian constitution is set up in a way that mental health of citizens or even mental health of those in power is even considered. I of course know that Nigeria is a funny place. Right, and of course I mean the laws and the responsibility of government talk about health. Most times we limit it to physical health when we talk about issues like malaria, cholera, time point. But the truth is the prevailing environment, government policies, decrees, things that government institutes have a direct bearing on the mindset and the mental health of citizens. So I mean the question is, does government even realize or recognize that fact? I think that in my opinion I may have a slightly differing opinion and that is that while there's a role of government in society, we know the ground norm, but I have always come to believe that the individual has a personal responsibility for their lives and their actions regardless of the situation they find themselves in. Case in point, you spoke about your adolescent years and how difficult and traumatic it was for you. But then regardless of what it was, somehow I don't know why or how, you found a way to be here today and we're very thankful for you. Correct, exactly. So I am convinced that we personally as people have a role to play in how we preserve our mental health and every other thing. I think that when we start to take knowledge and cognizance of that, we may start to have a better society. Things may just start to shift in our society because obviously the government isn't going to do anything. And finally, the government is made up of people who came out jobs like we did. Wow. They didn't bring people from any other place. It's the same people from the same society who went into government. So what is the problem? It's weak people. Well, of course, you can see the people have to do more. But you know, it's kind of a little, to be a little better if the government could actually be part of it. So, Kermak, over to you. Correct, because you want to ask questions like to what end really are some of the things that we see coming out of our leadership in Nigeria? Because you can't separate the mental well-being of our people from government policies and all of that. OK, Shola, is there anything you'd like to say? Yeah, I just think that, you know, that to say that basically the people that in government come from society, essentially we should ask ourselves the question, how do people in our society regard mental health? Did they take it seriously? Kermak is lucky because nobody was going on, he supported his family. Most people don't take mental health care. I mean, my growing up, my idea of mental health was essentially someone who was crazy. I didn't think someone was depressed or who was sad or who was struggling to accept certain things about themselves was considered to be struggling with mental health. I think the society needs to take clear and active role in being able to get government to change policy. Thanks, Shola. Thanks, Shola, but it's actually right, I always assume that mental health was strictly someone that is crazy. I know, right? No, you say, yeah, I agree and I'm sure Enor would also agree. So, when we say government to change policies, the first thing is in our society, if you're sad, they beat the sadness out of you. It's a cultural thing. It's a cultural thing, but I also believe that if we're saying government needs to take a role, do we realize that these people who are in government were raised in a cultural society that does not allow you to show emotions or express emotions? Correct. So, when I look at government, I think maybe what we need to look at is that how do we go back to our health care system? Because mental health is, every time we grow up, we had yaba left. We saw psychiatric hospitals. Yeah, that was a stigma. It was a stigma transition. So, I think we need to go back and say, when you say government, sometimes we push things to people without telling them what direction they're supposed to take. People in government were raised in the same society, in the same cultural spaces as we all have been raised. And so, what we might need to say is, can the government and those in authority look at how they're going to improve the health sector and actually bring to the fore issues around emotional things. Because mental health is, we're talking about our emotions. How do we react to things? And above all, because a lot of my work has been done around people's skills, especially etiquette, there's a part that we never talk about which is empathy. How do I feel? How do I relate to something? You know, I'm happy you're mentioning empathy. Let's take, for instance, the Twitter gang. Thank you. Right, how does that affect the mental health of the average Nigerian that lives his life on social media, has his businesses on Twitter, is an influencer, whose life is built around Twitter? Look, Edmonton, I'm telling you, I know lots of young people who felt like life was literally snuffed out of it. In our popular parlance, it choked. Like, it really choked. I must say, as much as they acted and really acted, they actually, as the executives, they didn't have the exact power by the constitution to actually move on to that kind of act because the truth is 39 subsection 2 allows any Nigerian to operate or disseminate information which is what Twitter and social media do. So for what president does take such an action? You need ratification from National Assembly. Right. Well, actually, I think to add to that, there's a part where we are kind of, we all, to answer Kimba's question first about people that live on social media, it's time to actually look at the resilience that we're building in this generation. So you find that there was a particular article or reset that I saw on TV and it said that we are dealing with a generation of people that have been pampered through life. So when you're in school, you are given an award for every activity. Competition is missing. And so there's a lot more that we need to do. And I also think that the last, the other realms of government, CSOs, that civil society and the media have a lot to do in influencing and shaping the narrative beyond just government as authority leaders as we think. All right. So moving and hoping and, I know, believing and taking responsibility for our own mental health as individuals and as a community of people. Shalak Houthi is next after this break. Stay with us.