Suicide has become more notorious in recent years, and is now reported regularly in the news. There is greater awareness of the challenge of suicide and attempted suicide partly as a result of increase in social media use. Attempting suicide is a criminal offence under Nigeria’s criminal laws. This law is currently enforced in several states in Nigeria. A legacy of old law from the era of British colonization, several other African countries have provisions in their criminal legislation criminalizing suicide attempts. This paper argues that this provision is retrogressive and unhelpful. It provides an overview of suicide in Nigeria, the factors that have been identified as leading to suicide and suicidal ideation and the state of the criminal law on attempted suicide in Nigeria, including the recent reforms in Lagos State. It argues that in light of current realities, better understandings of mental health, and the public health importance of preventing suicides, the provisions criminalizing attempted suicide in Nigeria should, as a matter of urgency, be repealed. It makes several recommendations relating to developing a national suicide prevention strategy and more robust approaches to addressing mental health from a legal perspective.

中文翻译：

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姗姗来迟：尼日利亚未遂自杀的非刑事化

近年来，自杀变得更加臭名昭著，现在新闻中定期报道。部分由于社交媒体使用量的增加，人们对自杀和未遂自杀的挑战有了更大的认识。根据尼日利亚的刑法，自杀是刑事犯罪。该法律目前在尼日利亚的多个州中得到执行。从英国殖民时代起，旧法律就成为了旧法律的遗留物，其他几个非洲国家的刑事立法中也有将自杀未遂定为犯罪的规定。本文认为，这一规定是倒退的，无济于事。它概述了尼日利亚的自杀，已发现导致自杀和自杀念头的因素以及尼日利亚未遂自杀的刑法现状，包括拉各斯州最近的改革。它认为，鉴于当前的现实，对心理健康的更好理解以及预防自杀对公共卫生的重要性，应紧急取消在尼日利亚将未遂自杀定为犯罪的规定。它提出了一些建议，涉及制定国家自杀预防策略以及从法律角度解决精神卫生问题的更有效方法。