NIGERIA AND THE DRIVE TO DESPONDENCY DUE TO DRUGS

NIGERIA AND THE DRIVE TO DESPONDENCY DUE TO DRUGS

By Bala Ibrahim

Nigeria is again in the news for bad news, this time around, on news associated with drugs in high places. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has alleged that the house of Senator Oyelola Ashiru, a senior member of the Nigerian Senate, is the warehouse of illicit drugs. Before this, the same Senator had accused the NDLEA of being the most corrupt and compromised government agency in Nigeria and there is a need to establish a new organisation to curb drug addiction and trafficking.

Sometimes back, while contributing to a debate on a Bill to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation, on the floor of the Senate, during plenary, Senator Kawu Sumaila, a Senator that is known to be fearless, alleged that some of his colleagues at the National Assembly were involved in drug abuse while carrying out their official duties. Kawu Sumaila alleged that most of his colleagues possessed hard drugs. The Hausa man would say, “toh fa”, the situation has turned into that of accusations and counter accusations, and Nigeria is the direct victim.

We may recall that the NDLEA was established by the promulgation of a decree in 1989, and given the task of exterminating illicit drug trafficking and consumption. The decree therefore empowers the agency to enforce laws against the cultivation, processing, sale, trafficking and use of hard drugs. It also empowers the Agency to investigate persons suspected to have dealings in drugs and other related matters. We may also recall, how, shortly after being on the saddle as chairman, late General Musa Bamaiyi, went on air to allege that, consumers and traffickers of hard drugs have infiltrated the agency, so much so that the agency was fast turning into the engine of facilitating the business of dangerous drugs in Nigeria. He accused the staff of being more experienced in the consumption and trafficking of the drugs they are employed to fight.

There have been many chairmen after Bamaiyi, and even the military that established the agency is gone, yet, the agency has not escaped from the saga of suspicion. Why? According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which is the global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime, and also responsible for implementing the United Nations lead programme on terrorism, Nigeria has dealings in many dangerous drugs, ranging from Marijuana, Hashish, Tramadol to cocaine. Equally, by its own admission, the NDLEA says, over 14 million Nigerians use illegal drugs. The majority use locally-grown cannabis, but many others use cocaine, heroin, or amphetamine-type stimulants.

To say Nigeria is in a distraught situation because of dangerous drugs dealings is probably more than an understatement. Experts on combating the menace say, factors such as poor socioeconomic status, peer-group pressure, family problems and poor academic performance are commonly associated with drug abuse in Nigeria. Those on drugs are prone to violence, crime, financial problems, housing problems, homelessness and vagrancy. Drug abuse has been a cause of many debilitating conditions such as schizophrenia and psychosis, leading to psychiatric admissions.

As I write this article, a seminar is ongoing, on cybercrimes, organized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and as I watch the live transmission of the programme on Channels TV, nearly every speaker, including His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, was compelled to say a thing or two about the menace of dealing in dangerous drugs. This means dealing in drugs is bad, or even more threatening to the survival of Nigeria, than the much talk about cyberctime.

Now, when an agency like the NDLEA, is aware of such a problem, and is coming out to point accusing fingers at people that are supposed to make laws that would prohibit the consumption and engagements in the causes of the problem, everyone knows that the country is driving towards despondency, due to those dangerous drugs. What we should be seeing are arrests and arraignment. But not counter accusations.

Records say that Nigeria’s drug prevalence rate is alarming, with a 15% prevalence rate, almost tripling the global prevalence rate of 5.5%. The prevalence rate of drug abuse is, however, higher among the youths. Dangerous as this is, the situation becomes frightening, when the names of law makers are added on the list. There was a time when a member of the Senate, a retired senior police officer, stood up on the floor of the chamber, to demand the dismissal of some of his colleagues, seated right there with him. He said he had investigated some of them in connection with drug related crimes, while he was in the police service. So, if such people are allowed to legislate, one day, they would legitimatize drug dealings. May Allah put a stop to their tenure in legislation, Ameen.

NIGERIA AND THE DRIVE TO DESPONDENCY DUE TO DRUGS