Nollywood actress cries out for help over brother's seven-year battle with mental illness

• Actress Chidera Adiele says her younger brother has battled mental illness since 2019.

• She says he has been admitted to at least seven psychiatric facilities without lasting recovery.

• Adiele has appealed for public support, saying she is exhausted after years as his primary caregiver.

A Nollywood actress and art curator, Chidera Adiele, has made an emotional public appeal for help over her younger brother's prolonged struggle with drug addiction and mental illness.

In a video shared on her Instagram page on Tuesday, Adiele said her brother's condition began in 2019, shortly after he gained admission into the University of Lagos, and worsened during his first academic session in 2020.

She said he has since been in and out of at least seven psychiatric facilities, including the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba and, most recently, the 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, also in Yaba, where he spent three months before the hospital asked her to take him home, saying they could not keep him indefinitely.

Among the facilities she named were a private facility identified as Concept One, and hospitals in Gbagada and Benin City, in addition to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba and the Army hospital where he was most recently admitted.

Adiele described herself as the first child of the family and her brother's primary caregiver throughout the ordeal. She said she relocated from the family home about five years ago to protect her young daughter from the instability caused by her brother's condition, but that the family has since returned to live with her after their landlord issued a quit notice.

"They've brought this drama back to me, and worse is I have been his primary caregiver since all of this started. I've been the one taking him to all these hospitals," she said in the video.

Speaking about the emotional weight of the situation, she added: "I'm the first child. I'm tired. I'm so tired of carrying responsibilities that I had no business carrying."

Adiele said she has spent extensively on her brother's treatment over the years without lasting improvement, and used the video to appeal directly to the public for support.

The video has since circulated widely across social media, with many users expressing sympathy for Adiele and calling attention to the broader burden placed on family caregivers of people with severe mental illness in Nigeria, where access to long-term psychiatric care remains limited.

As of the time of this report, Adiele has not specified what form of support she is seeking.

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