Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a move to decriminalise attempted suicide, marking a major shift from treating people in psychological distress as offenders to recognising them as individuals in need of care.

Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Pate, disclosed that the amendment to the Mental Health Act will now be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration.

Attempted suicide remains a criminal offence under Nigeria’s Criminal and Penal Codes.

Pate made the announcement after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting.

The Council also approved an executive bill to establish a National Centre for Oral Health.

In further health sector decisions, FEC endorsed major upgrades at the National Hospital, Abuja, including modular clinics, a high-end wing and a Neuroscience Institute. It also approved a ₦300 billion National Cancer Research and Treatment Centre, expected to be completed within 36 months.

President Bola Tinubu has directed that all liquid funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) be channelled into the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to support the education of Nigerian students.

The directive was announced on Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.

Alausa said the Council also approved the President’s directive for the transfer of unclaimed dividends from the capital market trust fund and the dormant account trust fund to NELFUND.

The measures are aimed at strengthening NELFUND’s financial capacity. More than 1.2 million students are currently benefiting from the scheme.

President Tinubu further directed the Ministers of Finance and Education, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Debt Management Office to work together to establish the legal framework for the transfer of the funds and unclaimed dividends to NELFUND.

NELFUND is the Federal Government’s interest-free student loan scheme that supports tuition and student upkeep.

Military pensioners were on Wednesday prevented by soldiers from staging a protest at the ministry of defence building in Abuja over “non-implementation of consequential adjustments to their pensions.”

The retired military personnel had converged on an open field near the ministry, holding aloft banners with various inscriptions.

They were making their way to the ministry’s main gate when soldiers cordoned off the area.

President Bola Tinubu recently approved new salary scale for serving military officers with a view to bolstering their performance across all the theatres of operations in the country.

The increment, which the retired military officers said it shouldn’t have left them out having served the country diligently for 35 years or more, cut across all the ranks in the military.

A retired Master Warrant Officer, who didn’t want his name in print, told our correspondent that the Minister was supposed to have met them in order to sort out the issue but the people around him prevented him from doing so.

“Gen. Christopher Musa is a kind man. He is always willing to see to the welfare of both the serving and retired personnel but those around him don’t want him to succeed,” he said.