Drug abuse and crime in Nigeria
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had reported that 14.3 million people, about 14 per cent of the population in Nigeria abused drugs in the past one year. The report funded by European Union (EU) which was released in January 2019 gave an […]
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had reported that 14.3 million people, about 14 per cent of the population in Nigeria abused drugs in the past one year. The report funded by European Union (EU) which was released in January 2019 gave an alarming figure which is disturbingly more than twice the world average of 5.6 per cent.
Nigeria is on the edge. Our country is facing drug epidemic that has the potential to destroy us as a nation. We need to search our souls in order to find out what has gone wrong with us.
Oftentimes, we do give too little thought to the dire consequences of pervasive drug abuse in the country. Oftentimes, we also fail to ask the question why most people who abuse drugs find it difficult to quit. In most cases, it easily escapes our mind why hardened criminals don’t value the lives of their victims. With bare modicum of pity, they rape, maim, starve and kill their victims. The only time criminals show remorse is when they are arrested and not under the influence of drugs.
Explaining the negative influence of drugs on addicts, an online publication, gatewayfoundation.org writes this on its website: drugs produce in our brain and body large amounts of dopamine, an organic chemical that “helps regulate our emotions, motivations and feelings of pleasure. Abuse of drug can therefore “change how the brain works and interfere with the person’s ability to make choices, leading to intense cravings and compulsive drug use. Due to the frequent release of dopamine in the addicts’ system, this may lead to substance dependency, or drug addiction as we generally call it.
Few recorded cases of violent crimes and murders that are traceable to drugs will suffice at this juncture. The 23 year Bello Garba, the eldest son of state security officer, Garba Bello, who killed his parents and 3 of his siblings in cool blood in September 2010, in Kano, admitted that he committed the grisly murder under the influence of drugs. A 27 year boy who bears the nickname “breaker” admitted to a judge in Lagos of consuming a lot of alcohol, gum and tramadol. He confessed that he has never killed but he steals and raped few girls some time ago. “I’m not sure I can be a human being like others”, the addict told the court in a remorseful tone. Early April In “in da ranka”, a popular magazine program of freedom radio Kano, aired a woman in tears accusing a boy, the son of her husband of raping her twice. The guilt-ridden offender blamed his action on the devil and drugs and appealed for clemency.
The unholy marriage between illicit drugs and crime has taken a more disturbing dimension in Nigeria. On April 13, 2019, during an advocacy visit to Lagos state, Brigadier-General Buba Mohammed Marwa (Rtd), Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) said, “Kidnappers now demand ransom in money and drugs such as tramadol among others from victims’ relatives.” Drug abuse, according to Marwa, is “worse than Boko Haram insurgency…behind all the crises faced in Nigeria, including kidnapping, robbery and killings, is drug abuse.”
Drug problem is not peculiar to Nigeria. Even with their vast resources and advancement in science and technology, the West and America could not fight illicit drugs. So curbing drug abuse and criminality in Nigeria will be herculean. However, it is a war that we must fight. It is the responsibility of the government, parents, schools and religious bodies to work together to save this and future generations of Nigerians from the menace of drug abuse.
Saleh Ibrahim Bature is Acting Director/North East, National Gallery of Art