By OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — ELDERLY persons in Nigeria are among those with the highest rates of depression in the world as a result  of non-payment of pensions and other related factors.

This was revealed by the President, African Association of Psychiatry and Allied Professions, Richard Uwakwe, yesterday, in Ibadan.

Chairman, Faculty of Psychiatry, National Post-graduate Medical College, Nnamdi Azikwe University, Anambra State, making allusion to a recent global survey of the well-being of older persons by HelpAge International, London, said Nigeria was rated 85th in a list of 91 nations.

He described as mere political statements the claims by some state governors that they were providing free health services for children under five years and aged people from the age of 65.

While speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, yesterday, he lamented that the number of current psychiatrists in the country was less than the number required.

Corroborating the survey, Professor Oye Guruje, said the survey carried out in 2001, about 10million of Nigerians had mental disorders.

The mental disorders according to him include, cognitive problems, anxiety disorders, stress related disorders, sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders, suicide, intellectual disabilities and many others.