Nigeria’s psychiatrists have demanded swift justice and compensation for the family of a colleague who was kidnapped and fatally shot in the southeastern city of Enugu, warning that rising insecurity threatens an already fragile mental health system.
The victim, Andrew Orovwigho, a consultant psychiatrist at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Enugu, was abducted on Dec. 30 and later found with multiple gunshot wounds after being dumped at a sand excavation site outside the city, the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) said in a statement.
He died on Jan. 2 despite emergency treatment.
According to the association, Orovwigho had left a social visit after receiving a call to attend to what appeared to be a private patient. On arriving at his residence, he was confronted by armed men who shot him, inflicted further injuries and drove him away in his vehicle. He was later discovered alive by a worker, taken to hospital and resuscitated, but succumbed to his injuries days later.
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The APN described the killing as a direct assault on the medical profession and the Nigerian healthcare system, adding that psychiatrists would not tolerate what it called a pattern of violence against health workers.
“We will not rest until justice is served,” Veronica Nyamali, APN president and Kingsley Okonoda, secretary-general, said in the statement.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 200 million people, has fewer than 150 practising psychiatrists, according to the association. The country has long struggled with a shortage of mental health professionals, exacerbated by the emigration of doctors seeking better pay and safer working conditions abroad.
The killing has intensified fears among practitioners who remain.
“Many doctors have opportunities to relocate, but some stay out of commitment to their communities. Incidents like this make that choice harder to defend,” a senior psychiatrist in Lagos, who asked not to be named, said.
The association called on authorities in Enugu State to identify and prosecute those responsible and to provide compensation and support for Orovwigho’s family. It also urged a comprehensive strengthening of security measures to protect healthcare workers.
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The APN acknowledged that the Enugu state governor had convened a security meeting following the incident, alongside the state branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, and that security agencies had begun investigations.
Attacks on doctors and medical staff have been reported in various parts of Nigeria in recent years, ranging from hospital assaults to kidnappings for ransom, underscoring broader security challenges in parts of the country.
For Nigeria’s mental health community, however, the loss carries particular weight.
Psychiatrists say the country’s treatment gap is vast, with millions lacking access to care. Facilities such as the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu serve wide catchment areas across the southeast.
Orovwigho, had chosen to remain in Nigeria despite opportunities abroad, driven by what they described as a belief in contributing to national development, colleagues said.
His death represents not only a personal tragedy but also a setback for a profession already stretched thin, they added.
“This matter is not closed. We will not relent,” the APN affirmed.
