Families often choose a rehab centre in a crisis, on someone’s recommendation, with little time to check. Here is what good treatment looks like, the red flags, the questions to ask, and the public options in Lagos and Abuja.
A good rehab centre in Nigeria is registered with the state health regulator, has a doctor who can manage withdrawal, uses proven therapies, involves the family and plans aftercare. Walk away from any centre that chains, beats, starves or locks people in.
Start with a medical assessment
Before anyone chooses a centre, someone who is dependent on alcohol or drugs should see a doctor. Withdrawal can be dangerous:
- Alcohol. Stopping suddenly after heavy daily drinking can cause seizures, confusion and hallucinations, and it can kill.
- Sedatives, such as sleeping tablets and “downers”, need to be reduced slowly under medical care, often over weeks.
- Opioids, such as tramadol, codeine and heroin. Withdrawal is miserable rather than usually deadly, but detox on its own is risky: tolerance drops, so going back to the old dose can cause an overdose.
That is why the NDLEA’s own guidelines say people who are clearly dependent are best treated at a health facility. Its counselling centres are for people who aren’t dependent, or who have already finished withdrawal with medical help. A psychiatric hospital or a teaching hospital’s psychiatry department is the right first stop. See our guides to psychiatric hospitals in Lagos and in Abuja.
If someone has collapsed, is fitting or may have overdosed, call 112, or 767 in Lagos, and get them to a hospital.
What good treatment includes
The UN and WHO standards for treating drug use set out what to expect. A good centre offers:
- An assessment and a personal plan. How long treatment lasts should depend on the person, not on a package. Fixed 28-day or 90-day programmes are not a standard.
- A real team: a doctor, psychiatric input, psychologists or counsellors, nurses and social workers.
- Medically supervised withdrawal where it’s needed, followed by treatment. Detox alone is not treatment.
- Therapy that works, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, family therapy and relapse prevention.
- Care for other problems. Depression, anxiety, psychosis, HIV, hepatitis and liver damage often come with addiction, and they need treating on site or by referral.
- The family involved, with the person’s agreement.
- A plan for after discharge. The weeks after leaving are when relapse is most likely.
- Consent. Treatment is voluntary, and people can leave. Residential care, usually three months or more, is for people who choose it.
Red flags: walk away
- Chains, shackles, ropes, handcuffs or locked rooms.
- Beating, flogging or “discipline”.
- Food withheld and called fasting.
- Herbs, injections or drugs given without the person’s consent.
- Nobody may leave, even when they ask to.
- Staff offering to “pick up” your relative by force.
- No doctor involved, and no plan for withdrawal.
- A guaranteed cure, or a fixed number of days that supposedly “cleans” anyone.
- Months of fees demanded up front, with no written terms on refunds.
- No visits or calls ever, with no clinical reason given.
These are not rare. In 2019 Human Rights Watch found people chained in 27 of the 28 facilities it visited in Nigeria, including religious centres families used for drug “rehabilitation”. The same year, police in Kaduna freed more than 300 men and boys, about 100 of them in chains, from a building where families had sent them for Koranic study and “rehabilitation” from drug use.
Faith can be a real support in recovery. It shouldn’t replace medical care, and it never justifies abuse.
What the law says
Nigeria’s National Mental Health Act, which took effect at the end of 2022, covers rehabilitation centres and faith-based establishments as well as hospitals. Under it:
- Nobody may use chains, handcuffs, shackles or ropes on a person. The penalty is a fine of at least ₦2 million or up to five years in prison.
- Treatment needs the person’s prior written consent.
- A person admitted voluntarily who asks to leave must be allowed to go within 24 hours.
- Admitting someone against their will is only allowed at an accredited facility, with two doctors and a review by a national committee.
- Restraint is allowed only under strict medical conditions, never as punishment or for the staff’s convenience.
- Anyone who sees abuse must report it to the police.
So paying people to pick up a relative and hold them somewhere is not a legal route into treatment, however desperate things feel.
Suggested read: Suicide Prevention: How to Ask the Question
Questions to ask before you choose
- Which authority registers you, and can I see your current certificate?
- Which doctor manages withdrawal, and are they on site?
- Who will assess my relative, and how is the treatment plan decided?
- Which therapies do you use, and who delivers them?
- How do you treat depression, anxiety or psychosis, or who do you refer to?
- How do you involve the family?
- Can residents make calls and receive visits? What happens if someone wants to leave?
- Do you ever restrain people? When, and how?
- What does it cost, what’s included, and what’s refundable?
- What happens after discharge?
- Can I visit before we decide?
A good centre answers all of these without getting defensive.
How to check a centre’s registration
There is no public online register of rehab centres in Lagos or the FCT, so ask for documents and check them by phone.
- Lagos: every health facility must be registered with HEFAMAA, the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, and registration is renewed every year. HEFAMAA has no special “rehab” category, so ask which category the centre is registered under, then confirm with HEFAMAA’s help desk on 0901 563 7023 or 0905 727 3396, or at hefamaa@lagosstate.gov.ng.
- FCT: private health facilities are registered by PHERMC, the Private Health Establishments Registration and Monitoring Committee of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, at Plot 1 Kapital Street, Area 11, Garki.
A current certificate doesn’t prove good treatment, but a centre without one is a clear no.
Public and low-cost options
- NDLEA helpline, 0800 1020 3040. Free, 24 hours, in English, Pidgin, Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Counsellors talk things through and refer callers to services near them. The NDLEA also runs counselling and rehabilitation centres at its state commands, including Lagos and the FCT.
- Lagos: the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, treats drug and alcohol problems and runs an addiction clinic on Tuesdays. LUTH has an addiction psychiatry service.
- Abeokuta: the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro, opened Nigeria’s first drug addiction treatment unit in 1983. It offers residential and outpatient care and a monthly aftercare clinic.
- Abuja: National Hospital Abuja is a UNODC-accredited treatment centre with a one-month inpatient detox programme followed by outpatient care. The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital also runs alcohol and drug services.
- Kaduna: the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital treats substance use and runs rehabilitation.
If you’ve seen the centre at Kuchiko, Bwari described as a government rehab: it is a social welfare facility for people taken off the streets, not a drug treatment clinic.
Methadone and buprenorphine, the medicines with the best evidence for opioid dependence, are only starting to reach Nigeria. National guidelines exist, and the first programmes began in 2026 in Anambra, Ebonyi, Gombe and Kwara. Ask a psychiatrist what is available near you.
What it costs
There are no reliable published prices for rehab in Nigeria. Public hospitals are usually far cheaper than private centres, and admission and medicines tend to be the largest costs. Before you agree to anything, get the full cost in writing: what’s included, what’s extra, and what happens to the money if treatment ends early.
Health insurance has often excluded addiction treatment, so ask your HMO before you rely on cover.
Aftercare matters as much as the stay
Relapse is common, and it doesn’t mean treatment failed. Plan for the months after discharge before admission even starts:
- Follow-up appointments at the hospital or centre.
- Ongoing therapy for relapse prevention. Many people do this online, which fits around work. You can find a therapist who works with addiction.
- A peer support group.
- A plan for the old triggers: the friends, places, money and moods that led to using.
- Family sessions, so everyone knows what helps and what doesn’t.
If you’re the family member
- Don’t trick or force someone into a centre. It’s rarely legal and usually backfires.
- Talk when they’re sober, about what you’ve seen, without insults. Say what you’ll support and what you won’t.
- Get support for yourself too. Living with someone’s addiction is exhausting. Our guide to supporting a loved one with a mental illness applies here as well.
Read more about addiction, or our guides to alcohol addiction and tramadol and codeine addiction.
Phone numbers were taken from official websites. Last checked by phone: [DATE: fill in before publishing].
Suggested read: Childlessness in Marriage: Handling Family Pressure
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a rehab centre is licensed?
Ask for its current registration certificate and which category it’s registered under, then confirm with the regulator by phone: HEFAMAA in Lagos, or PHERMC in the FCT. Neither has a public online register.
Is there a free government rehab centre in Lagos or Abuja?
The NDLEA helpline, 0800 1020 3040, is free and can refer you. The NDLEA runs counselling and rehabilitation centres at its Lagos and FCT commands, mainly for people who aren’t physically dependent or who have finished withdrawal. Public hospitals charge for treatment but usually cost far less than private centres.
How long does rehab take?
There’s no standard length. Treatment should follow the person’s needs. Residential care, where it’s used, is usually three months or more, followed by months of aftercare.
Can I force a family member into rehab?
No. Under the National Mental Health Act, admitting someone against their will is only allowed at an accredited facility, with two doctors and a review by a national committee. Paying people to pick someone up and hold them is not legal.
Is chaining allowed in Nigerian rehab centres?
No. The National Mental Health Act bans chains, handcuffs, shackles and ropes, including in faith-based centres. The penalty is a fine of at least ₦2 million or up to five years in prison.
What should I do if I see someone being abused in a centre?
Report it to the police. The National Mental Health Act requires anyone who witnesses abuse to report it. You can also tell the state health regulator.
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.
