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of preventing suicides, the provisions criminalizing attempted suicide in Nigeria should, as a matter of urgency, be repealed.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：尼日利亚未遂自杀非刑事化

近年来，自杀变得更加臭名昭著，现在经常出现在新闻中。由于社交媒体使用的增加，人们对自杀和企图自杀的挑战有了更高的认识。根据尼日利亚的刑法，企图自杀是一种刑事犯罪。该法律目前在尼日利亚的几个州执行。作为英国殖民时代旧法律的遗产，其他几个非洲国家在其刑事立法中将自杀未遂定为刑事犯罪。本文认为，这一规定是倒退和无益的。它概述了尼日利亚的自杀情况、被确定为导致自杀和自杀意念的因素以及尼日利亚关于自杀未遂的刑法状况，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，尼日利亚将企图自杀定为刑事犯罪的规定应作为紧急事项予以废除。它提出了几项与制定国家自杀预防战略和从法律角度解决心理健康问题的更强有力方法有关的建议。