Nigerian priest heals war scars to contain its spread

By the end of 2020, the conflict had killed nearly 350,000 people, also having a serious impact on the functioning of society in northeast Nigeria. Another decade of conflict could increase the death toll to over 1.1 million by 2030, according to a 2021 United Nations Development Programme report.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that at least 5,129 children are no longer able to attend school due to terrorist attacks.

The consequences of these attacks have left gaps in the food supply and destroyed the social system. They have also increased vulnerability and poverty, leaving many people at the end of their strength.

Earlier this year, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum said an estimated 3.5 million people had lost their homes as a result of the crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. Babagana also estimated that over a million people had been displaced and placed in internally displaced persons camps.

Borno State, formerly known as the “Home of Peace”, has become a focal point for numerous Boko Haram deaths, causing severe psychological problems among residents.

The situation has increased the stress of people who are struggling with numerous mental health problems, said Fidelis, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, persistent trauma syndromes, psychotic phenomena, stigma and gender-based violence.

Janada Markus, he said, is just one example. She fell into psychosis – a mental disorder characterized by loss of touch with reality – after her father was killed by the jihadist group Boko Haram on their farmland in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

According to Fidelis, the group marched into the Markus family's rice farm and slit Janada's father's throat right in front of her. The attack left her thinking about the violence she had experienced – she was only 19 at the time and it was her third experience of Boko Haram attacks.

Fidelis explained that Janada struggled with intrusive memories of traumatic events and flashbacks that haunted her. “She suffered from persistent anger and anxiety, which led to hypervigilance and a loss of touch with reality, which she confused with demonic attacks,” he said.

“She was brought to me to pray for her because she was supposedly possessed by demons. But after sitting with her, praying and listening to her, I realized that she was suffering from a mental illness that had made her lose touch with reality,” Fidelis told NCR.

Markus was then enrolled in the center's intensive crisis management, counseling and psychotherapy programs. Fidelis said her recovery took up to four months, but then she was able to begin reintegrating into society, reconnecting with family and friends, and continuing her education. The Salam Center secured her admission to Ramat Polytechnic in Maiduguri, where she studied tropical health and disease control. She then went on to Borno State College of Health Technology in Maiduguri, where she is studying epidemiology and disease control.

Overall, Markus's reintegration “has taken up to two years and will continue until she finishes her studies,” Fidelis said. These are “all the necessary things that need to be provided for her to be able to reintegrate into society, to feel a sense of dignity and worth, to recover from this misfortune” and to become resilient, he told NCR.

Fidelis' center faces the challenge of caring for as many people as Janada Makus in a country that has long had a shortage of mental health professionals. According to the World Health Organization, one in four of Nigeria's nearly 24 million people suffer from mental illness.

Dr. Tunde Ojo, national coordinator of the National Mental Health Programme, said in 2023 that only 1 in 10 people in Nigeria who need mental health treatment have access to these services. Yet mental illness is far from being a major public problem in Nigeria, but is kept hidden, making it difficult for people to seek treatment.

The Salama Centre works to bring the issue to light by providing public awareness and education, and initiating conversations with people who have witnessed or experienced violence. It educates people on issues such as stress, coping skills, trauma, interpersonal relationships, parenting and gender-based violence.

The aim, Fidelis said, is to teach people who do not suffer from stigma how to deal with people who have experienced trauma. The initiative also includes training teachers in trauma sensitivity so that they can recognize a traumatized child and deal with the student. They also learn how to support the children of internally displaced people in school, emphasizing the importance of compassion.

Fidelis explained that this campaign aims to strengthen social cohesion among communities. “We plan to expand our reach by using radio jingles to reach a larger audience in the Northeast, where the ongoing war has been affecting communities for years,” he said.

For those who turn to drugs and abuse substances to cope with their traumatic experiences, the centre offers psychotherapy before they are referred to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri for detoxification programmes. The centre covers the medical costs for the entire detoxification process. It also offers counselling support to families and continues therapy for the person afterward.

In addition, there are special programs for traumatized children, especially those who have witnessed the murder of relatives, as well as for women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence.

The Catholic initiative has partnerships with organizations and health facilities that support its work. Fidelis explains that beneficiaries can receive food assistance in addition to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) assistance.

Since 2020, the initiative has supported over 3,000 people severely affected by the attacks and around 10,000 people have benefited from its awareness-raising and psychosocial support programs.

However, this work is hampered by a lack of funds and the inability to provide training and build the skills of individuals to reach more communities, schools and hospitals – while Boko Haram’s offensive continues.

The center's work is supported by church organizations. Caritas Germany offers support in mental health and building psychosocial resilience, while Misereor supports the peacebuilding, psychosocial support and water and sanitation (WASH) programs.

The center is seeking partners and funding to secure airtime for its planned radio program in October. The program will include experts who can raise awareness and educate listeners.

Over the next seven years, the center plans to expand its services to dioceses across Nigeria. The aim is to expand its mental health and medical services beyond Borno by offering services from trained psychologists, therapists, social workers, sociologists, anthropologists and community health workers.