Positive Mental Health and Well-Being in Nigeria: An Ethical View

ABSTRACT: Mental health policy in Nigeria has historically centred on the diagnosis and containment of illness. This paper argues that such a framing is ethically incomplete. Drawing on the concept of positive mental health, understood as the presence of psychological, emotional and social flourishing rather than the mere absence of disorder, it examines what Nigerian society owes its members in the domain of well-being. The paper brings three ethical traditions into conversation: principlism in biomedical ethics, African communitarian moral thought, and the capabilities approach to justice. It identifies seven areas of ethical concern: stigma and moral status, distributive justice in access to care, autonomy and coercion in traditional and faith-based settings, the vulnerability of young people and women, and the structural conditions of poverty and insecurity that erode well-being. The paper concludes that a Nigerian ethic of mental well-being should be relational, rights-based and promotive, and it proposes practical commitments for government, professionals, communities and religious institutions. Keywords: positive mental health; well-being; Nigeria; ethics; communitarianism; capabilities; mental health law