The Editor-In-Chief made a visit to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Oshodi extension. He spoke with one of the out patients there – Chidi Okonkwo (Not real names) who came for his appointment. Here is Chidi’s story.
I was born into a Middle-Class family in the early 1990s. My father was a naval officer while my mother was a federal public servant. We lived comfortably in Port Harcourt and my childhood was joyously memorable.
My mental health challenge started in November 2010 while I was a second-year student of mechanical engineering at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO).
I was in the parlour watching a movie with my uncle when my head started spinning with my tongue coming out. I rushed into my room to avoid any embarrassment. I was in severe pains and called my uncle to inform my father about it.
Initially I was taken to the Living Faith Church a.k.a Winners Chapel where a pastor prayed for me. He advised my dad to take me to the hospital when I wasn’t getting any better.
I was taken to the hospital where I was sedated which made me sleep off.
Coping with the medications in school was not a walk in the park and I desperately wanted to drop out as I felt I couldn’t cope. My dad urged me to quit but my mother wouldn’t hear of it. I then deferred a semester when I was in my third year and accompanied my mother to Zaria in Kaduna on a company retreat.
Since November 2010, I have lived with somatic pains which has defied all solutions both medical and spiritual.
I returned to FUTO and managed to finish my course with a Second Class Upper despite the challenges.
I have been hospitalized many times in both public and private hospitals; the ailment has made me extremely suicidal.
Determined to further my education, I went to the Republic of Ireland in 2019 for a Masters Degree in Geoinformatics.
For the first time in my life, I faced academic challenges and I couldn’t cope with the rigours of the course. I dropped out after just three months in Dublin and returned to Nigeria in disgrace empty-handed.
My parents especially my mum was devastated as I had become a huge liability to them.
I turned down a job as a production engineer in La Casera shortly afterwards because I felt I wouldn’t be able to cope.
I still believe that my mental health challenge is a spiritual attack from the devil. I have gone to many prayer houses and met different pastors to cure it but all to no avail. A prophetess once revealed that one of my paternal uncles in the village is responsible for my plight.
I have had a long running battle with masturbation and pornography as well despite the fact that I pray to God and read my Bible twice daily.
I don’t really believe in the medications as I believe more in miracles and God can still permanently cure me. I am not giving up on my search for a total cure from a Man of God.
Having cried enough and wasted a lot of time, I decided to go back to school for my long overdue Masters Degree. This time around I hope to go to Italy next year for it and do it in environmental engineering with the view to relocating to Australia afterwards.
However, before I go, I want the somatic pains in my neck to either totally disappear or greatly reduce as the pain is still unbearable. A time is coming when I will exercise my faith to stop taking the medications without the doctors’ consent.
I believe that I will still get married and have children which I will do soon after my Masters. My future is bright and God will expose my enemies who will one day confess openly to me.
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