Bauchi Moves to Expand Mental Health Services as Psychiatrist Warns North-East Is Underserved

Plan International donates psychotropic drugs, family planning commodities.

From Paul Orude, Bauchi

A psychiatrist, Dr Yakub Fauwaz Farouz, has warned that the North-East has too few centres to treat mental illness, as the Bauchi State Government pledged to expand mental health services across its healthcare facilities.

Farouz, a Psychiatrist and Senior Registrar at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, said the region relies on only two facilities — ATBUTH and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital — leaving patients from Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa travelling long distances for care.

“There is a lot of mental health gap in many developing countries such as Nigeria that makes it difficult for many patients to access treatment,” he said.

The psychiatrist was speaking at an event to mark the 2026 World Mental Health Day, organised in collaboration with Plan International Nigeria and supported by Global Affairs Canada, held in Bauchi on Saturday.

He listed stigma and discrimination, cultural misconceptions, misunderstanding of recovery and financial hardship among the challenges mental health patients face in the country.

Farouz called for collaborative work with professionals, the media, civil society organisations, traditional and religious leaders, policymakers, government and international partners to address them.

The Executive Chairman of the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Board (BSPHCB), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, assured that the state government would expand mental health services in primary health care facilities in the state.

Represented by Dr Adamu Mohammed, Director of Disease Control and Immunisation, Dr Mohammed said the Board would work with relevant stakeholders to address the identified challenges, guide future interventions, and strengthen the availability of staff and essential services needed to provide mental healthcare at the grassroots.

As part of efforts to mark the World Mental Health Day themed “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” Plan International Nigeria handed over psychotropic drugs and family planning commodities to strengthen mental health and adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Bauchi State.

The Plan International Nigeria Representative, Dr Charles Usie, said the donation was part of efforts to mark the 2026 World Mental Health Day and to also recognise the International Day of the Girl Child.

Speaking through Damaris Philemon Mbaya, Gender and Inclusion Officer of Plan International Nigeria Bauchi Field Office, Usie stated that the handing over of the essential health commodities was significant as it moved stakeholders beyond conversation to action.

“For mental health, awareness, advocacy, challenging stigma and discrimination matter, but these efforts must ultimately be matched by accessible services, appropriate treatment, trained providers and the medicines people need when they seek care,” Usie stated.

He said mental health must go beyond awareness to strengthening access to quality services, appropriate treatment and essential medicines critical to translating conversations about mental health into meaningful action.

Usie added that mental health is an integral part of overall health, and that people requiring mental health services should be able to access appropriate, quality and stigma-free care.

He said the commodities, procured under the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in Nigeria (ASPIRE) project, would be integrated into government storage and Drug Revolving Fund systems, and urged officials to track stock levels so supplies reach the facilities and patients who need them.

He also called for confidential, adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, adding that access to quality care protects the dignity and decision-making of young women.

Receiving the donation on behalf of the Bauchi State Government, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Dauda Yakubu Mahmud, thanked Plan International Nigeria for the gesture and urged more of such support to properly address mental health