At 2am, it feels like someone's there': why Nigerians are choosing chatbots to give them advice and therapy

"On a quiet evening in her Abuja hotel, Joy Adeboye, 23, sits on her bed clutching her phone, her mind racing and chest tightening. On her screen is yet another abusive message from her stalker a man she had met nine months earlier at her church. He had asked Adeboye out; when she declined, he began sending her intimidating, insulting and blackmailing messages on social media, as well as spreading false information about her online."

"Good evening, Resilient Joy, the bot types. How are you today? Adeboye hesitates, then starts typing: Someone is defaming me online and threatening to kill me, because I refused to date him. I am depressed and confused. What should I do? The chatbot, which Adeboye had heard about at an event on gender-based violence run by an NGO, advises her to deactivate her social media accounts and provide all necessary information about the person making the threats to someone she trusts."

A 23-year-old woman in Abuja faces online stalking, defamation, blackmail and death threats after declining a man’s advances, harming her mental health and leaving her isolated. She turns to a WhatsApp chatbot, which offers practical advice such as deactivating social accounts and sharing threat details with a trusted person, and she feels less alone. AI-driven platforms offering first-line mental health support have proliferated in Nigeria as therapy remains expensive and professionals are scarce. Nigeria’s health and mental health systems are underfunded, with spending persistently below 5% of the budget and a 2026 allocation of 4.2% far under the 15% target.

Read at www.theguardian.com