By By Ademola Ajao
PROF Olayinka Omigbodun, Nigeria’s first female Professor of Psychiatry and the first female Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, has stressed that mental health is a critical determinant of educational outcomes.
She made this assertion on Thursday while delivering her inaugural lecture, titled: Our Children’s Mental Health, Our Nation’s Wealth, at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan.
Prof Omigbodun explained that mental health is a strong factor in measuring the human capital index, adding that disorders such as depression and anxiety directly affect the ability to learn.
On the issue of out-of-school children, she described it as a pressing challenge for Nigeria, urging a shift in focus.
“We tend to focus on our wealth as national capital. We need to focus more on human capital,” she said.
She emphasised that the “mental wealth” metric recognises brain capital as the foundation of economic and social productivity.
“It’s the foundation for brain capital, and that is why the focus is on Our Children’s Mental Health, Our Nation’s Wealth,” she reiterated.
Sharing insights from her research, Prof Omigbodun revealed that children whose mothers experience psychological distress are four times more likely to develop mental health disorders. She also highlighted that many primary care workers struggle to detect such conditions.
“As we were developing services, we were also conducting research along the way. We examined psychosocial issues in child and adolescent clinics in Nigeria,” she noted.
Summarising her findings, she disclosed that children separated from their parents were more likely to go hungry, become sexually active at an early age, and attempt suicide.
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