“Aro” has been shorthand for a psychiatric hospital in the south-west for seventy years. It is a real place: a 735-bed federal hospital on the edge of Abeokuta that treats everything from depression and drug problems to dementia. Here is what happens when you go.
Aro is the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State, the oldest purpose-built psychiatric hospital in Nigeria. It has an assessment and emergency unit, outpatient clinics, child and adolescent, older adult, addiction and rehabilitation services, and an annex at Lantoro. You can call 0903 638 0203 before you travel.
Why people know the name
Aro opened in the 1940s and has been the reference point for mental health care in the south-west ever since. Its history is part of why the name carries weight. In 1954 Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo, the first Nigerian psychiatrist, took charge and two years later started the “Aro village system”: people being treated were housed in nearby villages with a relative, with nurses visiting, instead of being locked away. The idea was studied around the world. The World Health Organization made Aro a collaborating centre for research and training in 1979.
Because the hospital is so well known, “Aro” also became a word people use to mock someone. That stigma keeps people away from a hospital that treats ordinary problems every day. Our piece on mental health stigma in Nigeria explains where that fear comes from. If you are wondering whether you need a psychiatrist at all, or a therapist would do, start with our guide to therapists, counsellors and psychiatrists.
Where it is and how to reach them
- Main hospital: Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State. The hospital’s websites don’t publish a street address, so ask for “Aro Hospital” or “Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro” when you get to Abeokuta.
- Lantoro Annex: the hospital’s original site at Lantoro, Abeokuta, now used for acute wards and the rehabilitation ward.
- Phone: 0903 638 0203 (on both of the hospital’s websites), 0803 842 2422 and 0701 073 7073.
- Email: provost@neuroaro.gov.ng.
Last checked: 3 November 2026, from main.neuroaro.gov.ng and portal.neuroaro.gov.ng.
The hospital has run two websites for years. Neither publishes clinic days or a registration guide, which is why we say call first.
What they treat
Aro is a full psychiatric hospital, with 735 beds across the main site and the annex. Its own pages list:
- Adult psychiatry, with four acute wards at Aro and seven at Lantoro, for depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, severe anxiety and other conditions.
- An assessment and emergency unit.
- Outpatient clinics, including a private clinic and private ward.
- Drug and alcohol problems, through the Drug Addiction Treatment, Education and Research unit, known as DATER, which runs in two phases, and a Health Education and Drug Abuse Prevention unit set up in 2021 that offers brief therapy for milder drug problems.
- Children and teenagers, in a child and adolescent clinic.
- Older adults, in a psychogeriatric unit, including memory problems.
- Forensic psychiatry, for people involved with the courts, with a forensic and correctional centre.
- Rehabilitation, including a rehabilitation ward at Lantoro, vocational training in trades such as sewing, barbing, printing and woodwork, and a hostel called Hope Villa for people preparing to go home.
- Community psychiatry, including a team that can assess and treat people at home and bring them in if needed.
- Allied services: clinical psychology, social work, occupational therapy, speech therapy, physiotherapy, EEG, a laboratory, radiology and a pharmacy.
- A general medical practice clinic, which also serves the NHIA desk, with antenatal care. The hospital opened it in 2005 partly to make the gate less frightening to walk through.
Two things the hospital does not publish: which days each clinic runs, and fees. Both change, so ask when you call.
Your first visit, step by step
Aro doesn’t publish its registration steps. The two federal psychiatric hospitals that do, Yaba and Enugu, describe the same pattern, and Aro has an assessment and emergency unit that plays the same role. Expect something like this:
- Go to the assessment and emergency unit on your first visit, with or without a referral letter. You can come yourself, or a relative can bring you.
- Register. You’ll give your details, pay a registration fee and get a hospital number and a folder.
- A nurse checks you, including your blood pressure, pulse and temperature.
- A doctor sees you. They’ll ask what has been happening and may arrange tests, a clinic appointment, talking therapy with the psychology or social work teams, medication, or admission if needed.
- Book your follow-up before you leave.
Go early. First visits at the federal psychiatric hospitals can take most of a day.
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What to bring
- Any referral letter, previous hospital cards or records.
- A list of the medicines the person has been taking, or the packets themselves.
- Someone who knows what has been happening, especially if the person who is unwell can’t describe it.
- Money for registration, consultation, tests and medicines. Call ahead and ask what to expect.
- Water, something to eat and a charged phone.
Costs and NHIA
Aro doesn’t publish fees. Its stated values say charges are “tailored to the economic power of the average Nigerian”, and public psychiatric hospitals do cost far less than private ones, but nothing at Aro is free. Ask for the cost of registration, a consultation and, if it comes up, admission.
The hospital has an NHIA unit attached to its general practice clinic. The national benefit package covers specialist consultations, psychiatrists included, and limits hospital stays to 21 days a year with a referral. Private HMO plans vary and many limit mental health care. Ask the NHIA desk and your HMO before you rely on cover. Our guide to whether your HMO covers therapy explains what to ask.
If admission comes up
Admission is common at Aro, and the National Mental Health Act 2021 sets out your rights:
- Treatment needs your informed, written consent after the options and risks have been explained.
- If you were admitted voluntarily and ask to leave, the hospital must let you go within 24 hours, unless you meet the Act’s strict conditions for involuntary care.
- Admission against someone’s will is allowed only in narrow circumstances, such as a serious likelihood of imminent harm, needs two doctors, and can be appealed.
- Nobody may be chained or shackled. The Act bans chains, handcuffs, shackles and ropes anywhere, with a fine or prison for anyone who does it.
Our explainer on the Mental Health Act covers the rest.
Drug and alcohol problems
Aro’s DATER unit is one of the oldest addiction services in the country. It takes people in for residential treatment and follows them up as outpatients, and the hospital says beds and the cost of a long stay have both been pressures, which is why it added the shorter, education-based unit in 2021. Stopping alcohol or sedatives suddenly can be dangerous, and coming off opioid painkillers such as tramadol is safer with medical support, so start with a doctor rather than a prayer house or a locked room. Our guide to choosing a rehab centre explains what good treatment looks like, and our page on addiction covers the options.
Mental health care closer to home in Ogun
Since 2011 Aro has trained staff at primary health centres in all 20 local government areas of Ogun State to manage common mental health conditions, with visiting psychiatric nurses supervising. If you live far from Abeokuta, ask at your local primary health centre whether it runs a mental health clinic. For anything severe or urgent, go to Aro.
If it’s an emergency now
- If someone is in immediate danger, call 112.
- Psychiatric emergencies: Aro’s assessment and emergency unit, or the nearest hospital A&E.
- To talk to someone now: Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000, toll-free and answered 24 hours a day. Our helplines page lists more.
Where Mytherapist.ng fits
Our therapists provide talking therapy. They don’t prescribe medication or admit anyone to hospital. If you need a psychiatrist, Aro is the place in Ogun State. Therapy can run alongside psychiatric treatment, and you can find a therapist and see them online from Abeokuta or anywhere else. If psychosis is part of the picture, read about schizophrenia. If you are in Lagos, the Yaba Left guide covers the hospital there.
Details were taken from the hospital’s own websites. Last checked by phone: [DATE: fill in before publishing]. Numbers change, so call before you travel.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Aro psychiatric hospital?
In Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State, with an annex at Lantoro in the same city. The hospital doesn’t publish a street address, so ask for “Aro Hospital” when you arrive in Abeokuta, and call 0903 638 0203 first.
Is Aro a government hospital?
Yes. It is a federal hospital, run by the Federal Ministry of Health since 1976, and one of nine federal neuropsychiatric hospitals in Nigeria.
Suggested read: Guidance and Counselling in Nigeria: History and Today
Can I go to Aro without a referral?
The hospital doesn’t say on its site. At the other federal psychiatric hospitals, new arrivals register at the emergency unit with or without a referral, and Aro runs an assessment and emergency unit. Call to confirm.
How much does Aro hospital charge?
It doesn’t publish fees. Expect a registration fee, then charges for consultation, tests, medicines and, if needed, admission. Ask the NHIA desk what your plan covers.
Does Aro treat drug addiction?
Yes. Its DATER unit offers residential and outpatient treatment for drug and alcohol problems, and a separate unit offers brief therapy for milder problems.
Can Aro admit someone against their will?
Only under the strict conditions of the National Mental Health Act, such as a serious likelihood of imminent harm, and with two doctors’ assessment. The person or their representative can appeal.
This article is awaiting clinical review. It’s based on published research and health guidelines, and we’ll update it once a clinician has reviewed it.
