I was privileged to attend Kings College Lagos between 1995 and 2001. At the time, it was an elite federal government college for boys – Nigeria’s only all boys federal government college modelled after the famous Eton College of the United Kingdom.
I was very playful in the junior secondary school and so my grades were average. My grades tremendously improved in the senior secondary school where I was an arts student. So good I was that I represented the college in the Bournvita Brain Match competition where I was on national television at the of 14.
My dream was to become a corporate lawyer as I recall writing that in the log book. I passed WAEC, NECO, and JAMB at my first attempt and got admission in 2002 to study law at the University of Lagos. I vowed to make a First Class so that I could get a fully funded scholarship to do my Masters and Doctorate in commercial law at my dream university – Harvard.
Fate had other plans for me in the university famously located in Akoka. No matter how hard I studied, my grades kept dropping with every passing semester. It was a nightmare. I spent three years in law.
Shortly before my fourth year, I recall going for morning mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Gbaja, Surulere and then I started screaming after Mass holding a huge cross in my left hand and saying that I wanted to address the media.
I was beaten black and blue by some parishioners before I passed out. I remember waking up in a ward at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba popularly known as Yaba Left.
This was in 2005 and the hospital became my abode for the next three months. I struggled to come to terms with my new status as a psychiatric patient and lived in denial for a very long time. I recall a health talk where one of the psychiatrists said that we would be on the medications for the rest of our lives. That sent shivers down my spine as I was barely 20 years old then. The thought of popping pills twice daily till I pass on scared me to death.
After my discharge, I lost a semester and so I decided to defer the second semester till the following session. I travelled to Benin to stay with my maternal grandparents. My mother said that I should write the biography of my grandfather to keep busy when I complained of boredom. I took up the challenge and really enjoyed it a lot. It was when I discovered my innate gift of writing.
The side effects of the anti-depressants were that it affected my cognitive abilities to easily read and assimilate and so I abruptly stopped taking them.
Upon my return to Lagos in 2006, I decided to switch courses from Law to English and pursue a career in journalism.
I started writing opinion pieces in Nigerian Newspapers in 2007 with my debut article being in Thisday on January 6th. I made a Second Class Upper in 2009 and did my National Youth Service Corps as a Human Resources Officer in The Shell Petroleum Development Company, Warri between 2010 and 2011.
I came back to Lagos after my NYSC and got a job with a Lekki based NGO in December 2011 as a research officer.
I was sent to the UK in March 2012 to work there as I greatly impressed my boss who bent the rule in my favour. When I returned to the country later that year, I experienced my first relapse. I remember writing nasty things about my boss on Facebook and resigning abruptly.
I was hospitalized in a private hospital in 2014 as doctors were on strike in the public hospitals.
I got a job after my discharge that same year and another one in 2016 in a consulting firm. I relapsed again and resigned for no just reason after clashing with my immediate boss.
I was hospitalized for the third time in 2018 in Yaba Left and watched the world cup from the hospital. I got a job after I was discharged and life went on smoothly.
In 2023, I got a job as a health correspondent with Punch Newspaper but resigned after only five months as I relapsed though I didn’t cause a scene. I was hospitalized for a day in Yaba Left and was discharged the following day as I was sedated to sleep.
Battling mental health challenges has robbed me of a stable career, relationship with the opposite sex as I have suffered severe stigmatization from them whenever I open up about my health challenge. It has also made me obese as one of the side effects of the daily intake of the medications is excessive intake of food.
For a very long time I indulged in self-pity and literarily cursed God for my health challenge.
Lately, I began to have a different view about the entire situation. I became more grateful to the Almighty for the wonderful gift of life and got inspired by some great people who rose above their challenges.
This was what made me vow to become a mental health advocate to give a voice to these marginalized people and make them see their abilities in their supposed disability.
With the medications, one can still live a normal life and depression is no different from hypertension and diabetes that require daily intake of medications. It is all about having a divergent attitude and perspective to the challenge.
Once again, I am most grateful to God for the gift of life as it’s an opportunity to not only make a difference in this turbulent world but to etch one’s name permanently in the sands of time as well as the annals of history.
To my fellow mental health patients, I am your humble voice and selfless servant.
See you all at the top!
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