According to a research carried out by The Human Rights Watch (HRW) researchers, it was discovered that Thousands of people with mental health conditions are held in chains in institutions across Nigeria.
HRW researchers visited 28 mental facilities in Nigeria’s capital and 8 of the country’s 36 states between August 2018 and September 2019 during which they carried out various interviews with 124 people.
Some people had been held for months or years, often in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions, the researchers found.
The findings come as authorities have taken action against informal Islamic schools and rehabilitation centers whose inmates have been subjected to widespread physical abuse with many held in chains. Some 1,500 people have been freed in raids since late September.
They found many people bound with iron chains around one or both ankles, to heavy objects or to other detainees.
This was seen in a wide range of mental institutions including federal psychiatric hospitals, state hospitals and state-owned rehabilitation centers, churches and Islamic centers.
Both adults and children were bound in chains.Some people were chained for a few days at a time as punishment, or for weeks or months to prevent them from moving or leaving.
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According to their reports, the youngest person chained was a 10-year-old boy while the oldest chained was an 86-year-old man.
A spokesperson from HRW said, “The Nigerian government should “completely ban chaining. they should investigate all state and private institutions where people with mental health conditions live … with the goal of stopping chaining and ending abuses”.
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