A People Weighed Down by Mental Anguish

There are many things that have caused Nigerians mental anguish, including but not limited to the harsh living conditions in the country, incessant rising cost of living, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, inadequate healthcare and poor educational facilities. The multiplier effect of the combination of this dissatisfactory state of affairs, has affected the psyche of the majority of Nigerians negatively. Even though in its preamble, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the Constitution) refers to the promotion of equality and justice, Sections 14(2)(b) & 16(1)(b) provide inter alia for security and welfare, and the maximum welfare and happiness of Nigerians respectively, while Section 42 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination, we live in a society where the opposite of these provisions obtains. Most people are unhappy, enveloped in a feeling of hopelessness (depression), deprivation and insecurity. Truly, it is destabilising. The fact that we are unable recover damages from Government for emotional distress, does not change the fact that people are in pain. And, even occasionally when Government tries to provide succour, for example, with the railway, to make travel quicker, easier and safer for Nigerians, something happens to mar it, because many have channelled their anguish into criminality, taking out their frustrations on innocent citizens – the case of the Kaduna train attack in March 2022 readily comes to mind. 

There is a mental anguish that is general to majority of Nigerians, as a result of the hardship we are facing in our lives – with majority of us no longer able to meet our normal everyday financial obligations, though additionally, different groups have their own peculiar anguishes which have sometimes resulted in various negative consequences around the country. Two examples: (1) the average Nigerian worker is poorly paid – the minimum wage of N30,000 per month is measly and grossly inadequate for a family of one person to live on, let alone a couple with two children. The emotional distress caused by being unable to feed properly or send their children to school, is a constant in the lives of the Nigerian worker and a permanent source of mental anguish for over 50% of our population who fall into this cadre – this has also encouraged corruption and crime; (2) many Farmers have boycotted their farms because they have either been attacked and many killed by Herdsmen thereon, or for fear of attacks and kidnap, and are unable to eke out their subsistence living – theirs is a combination of mental and physical anguish – fear, physical harm and extreme poverty. Hunger, and all the sickness arising from hunger – malnutrition, high blood pressure, increased risk of chronic diseases, increased risk of mental health issues like Depression, Anxiety and PTSD, are their realities. 

There is a prediction of food shortages in 2023, because of reasons like flood in several States that destroyed crops and harvest, and insecurity – more mental anguish for Nigerians, with the fear of increase in the already high food prices, that is if we are even able to access food produce. Hopefully, things will not turn out to be so bleak!

Mental Anguish in Law

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “Mental Anguish” (aka emotional distress and emotional trauma) as “a high degree of emotional pain, distress, torment, or suffering that may aggravate a crime, or be a subject of an action for damages or wrongful death”. Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition defines it as an element of damages including “the mental suffering resulting from the excitation of the more poignant and painful emotions, such as grief, severe disappointment, indignation, wounded pride, shame, public humiliation, despair etc”; that is, anguish that is caused from mental or emotional injury, and not physical injury. This is not to say that mental anguish doesn’t arise from physical injury – it does; and vice-versa, physical injury arises from mental anguish, for instance, untreated stress can bring on sicknesses like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. 

Here in Nigeria, we may still be at the stage the Western world was about five decades ago, where the courts were not prone to acknowledging that a person’s mental well-being and tranquility could require legal protection. In the past, in the event that mental anguish was acknowledged, it was usually emotional distress that emanated from a physical injury. The reason is that mental anguish was seen as being intangible, hard to measure and subjective, difficult to quantify in damages and varying from person to person. Subsequently, in the Western World, it is now a different story. For example, in Consolidated Rail Corp v Gottshall, 512 U. S. at 532, 544 (1994) the US Supreme Court inter alia described mental anguish  as a mental or emotional injury, distinct from pain and suffering. 

Though the bar of proof is placed very high, sometimes people are awarded damages for example, for emotional trauma suffered in bad marriages, if the spouse’s behaviour is outrageous. In Kindred v National College of Bus and Tech Inc No. W2014-00413-COA-R3-CV (Tennessee Ct. App March 19, 2015), in a claim for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (IIED), the Court conceded that though the Plaintiff was understandably unhappy that her enrolment in Term 107 was cancelled, she failed to prove the outrageous conduct standard required to support this tort of IIED. In the UK, it is possible to sue in the work place for emotional distress suffered because of discrimination – this is known as injury to feelings. It is also possible to be compensated for a physical injury like Depression, caused by discrimination in the work place.   

In Nigeria, mental anguish does not particularly seem to be recognised as a class of its own, and is still very much tied to the apron strings of physical injury. See the case of Julius Berger (Nig) Plc & Anor v Ugo (2015) LPELR-24408(CA) Page 88-89 per Oho JCA in which though mental anguish was one of the heads of the claim for general damages, it was in consideration of a claim for general damages in a case of personal injury. 

The assessment of damages for physical injury are seen to be easier to ascertain, using certain parameters. In C & C Construction Co. Ltd & Anor v Okhai (2003) LPELR-821(SC) per Uwaifo JSC, the Supreme Court held that “…..there is no means of medically assessing the intensity or otherwise of the pain a person is going through”. The Apex Court however, opined that, in the case of physical injury, the more serious the injury is, the more pain the individual would feel. Such pain could even have a duration period, as it’s intensity could start to reduce as time went on. The Court then went on to state that while pain could end, suffering may continue; and used a person who has suffered a stroke as an example.  

After the initial pain from a stroke, numbness in the affected area may set in. So, while there would be no more pain, the suffering and discomfort caused by the stroke would continue, especially if the individual loses use of the affected body part like a hand or limb permanently, which could result in mental trauma. The emotional distress, loss of income occasioned by the inability of the individual to earn income as a result of the stroke, would be taken into consideration in awarding damages, as well as the cost of the medical bills and care givers for life. 

In C & C Construction Co. Ltd & Anor v Okhai (Supra), the Supreme Court surmised that “mental anguish and distress…..is….generally regarded as much more difficult to assess, depending as it does so much on the nature, character and outlook of an individual”. The Apex Court however, instructively held that: “Once a Plaintiff has successfully shown that he suffered personal injury as a result of breach of duty owed him by the Defendant, the claim for pain and suffering must be considered”. 

Additionally, in Nigeria, mental anguish may also be tied to anguish suffered by a Plaintiff as a result of losses suffered because of the actions of the Defendant in the case of breach of contract. In Union Bank of Nigeria Plc v Moltok (2019) LPELR-47741(CA) while the Court of Appeal held that mental anguish and untold hardship cannot be quantified or have exact calculation; that the award of general damages is at the discretion of the court which should be applied judiciously and judicially, based on what a reasonable man would presume in the circumstance; but, nevertheless, it upheld the decision of the lower court which awarded general damages to a retiree who depended mostly on his pension, and claimed damages for mental anguish and untold hardship, when the Appellant suddenly and wrongly made an unexplained deduction of a lump sum from the retiree’s account. 

Mental Anguish of the People

But, for the purposes of this discourse, I am referring to the general mental anguish that majority of Nigerians are going through because of the common denominator of our terrible living conditions; anguish that we cannot recover damages from government for, particularly since Section 6(6)(c) of the Constitution makes our mental anguish occasioned by the failure of Government to meet the essence of governance (Chapter II of the Constitution), non-justiciable. Nigerians are suffering from mental anguish, emanating from their severe disappointment in the democratic system of governance since 1999. Some even maintain that an analysis of Nigerian lives pre and post 1999, reveal the fact that the quality of our lives may have been better under the military, as there have not been many dividends of democracy, possibly apart from GSM! 

Many of us trace our anguish and suffering to bad governance, thieving politicians and corrupt government officials. Bandits/kidnappers/herdsmen, when seen in video clips, blame their criminal activities like kidnapping, killing and robbery on the mental anguish they have suffered arising from the fact that government has failed them; that they lack of basics like quality education and healthcare, coupled with unemployment. Though it would be unfair to assert that this mental anguish, pain and suffering that has been unleashed on Nigerians has been caused solely by this APC administration, because it has been caused by the cumulative efforts of successive administrations, institutional pervasive corruption and other force majeure, for example, the crash in global oil prices a few years ago and the Covid-19 pandemic, it has surely been seriously compounded by some of the grave mistakes made by this present administration. 

‘Japa’

While some have channelled their mental anguish into corruption and crime, it has translated in  others to what has metamorphosed into what is today called “Japa”, aka “Checking Out” and “Brain Drain”, where droves of people, useful professionals like Medical Doctors, Nurses, Bankers and Lecturers, especially the younger ones, are seeking all avenues to leave Nigeria to search for greener pastures and start new lives in Canada and other countries. 

Conclusion 

This administration has repeatedly shown its insensitivity, to the mental anguish that most Nigerians are experiencing. In the case of the University Lecturers, under the auspices of ASUU, Government has shown its hardheartedness by failing to pay them their full salary, when it is obvious that they must teach the students the complete 2021/2022 syllabus and examine them on it, before they can commence the 2022/2023 Academic Year, that is, lost ground must be covered. It may be too late for this administration to relieve our emotional distress, by making  meaningful improvements to our lives, aside from ensuring that the 2023 general elections are credible across board. It could be that Nigerians should just look to the next administration, and hope that life will be better under them.