When wives of northern governors rose against drug abuse

Saddam Saidu stood on the stage singing his heart out, in a song he released to speak strongly against the misuse of drugs; according to the lyrics, nothing good comes out of drug abuse, but a wasted life filled with regrets. The 21-year-old young man, who hails from one of the northern states in Nigeria, […]

Saddam Saidu stood on the stage singing his heart out, in a song he released to speak strongly against the misuse of drugs; according to the lyrics, nothing good comes out of drug abuse, but a wasted life filled with regrets.

The 21-year-old young man, who hails from one of the northern states in Nigeria, speaks on his struggle with drug abuse and how he eventually survived it to get back to school and reclaim some order in his life.

He recalls to this reporter that at age 13 he had started using marijuana through peer pressure and moved to cocaine by age 15 without his parents knowing what was happening.

By the time his parents were any wiser, he was already an addict. 

His parents had taken him to several rehab centres before he finally landed at the synapse services where he began treatment, had a relapse twice before he finally started to respond to treatment.

Today Saidu is back on track, and speaking boldly against the evils of drug misuse.

“I wasted many years battling drug addiction, my mates have graduated and I am now back in school, trying to regain what I lost. Drug abuse is real and gradually killing our youths,” he said.

He is joined in this sermon by renowned reggae icon, Majek Fashek, who at one time almost crumbled his musical career due to drug addiction.

He is now an advocate against the use of drugs, he tells an audience at the just concluded drug awareness and advocacy training workshop organized by the Northern Governor’s Wives Forum (NGWF) that treatment at synapse services and commitment to stop the habit helped him.

“I am cured and ready to launch an album very soon, but these drugs really wrecked and did a number on me.

“In a special way I want to thank my mum, who molded me and helped me believe in myself to overcome this addiction,” Saidu also said.

This thought it seems weighs heavily on the minds and hearts of the NGWF to have convened a training to curb the prevalence of drug abuse in the north, especially among young men and women.

But more worrisome is a revelation by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) that the rate of misuse of drugs in the north is quite alarming with women topping the list of abusers.

Mrs Roli Bode-George, who spoke extensively on the issue of drugs use in the north at the workshop, was quick to point out that what fuels the habit is stigmatisation and denial by both the users and their care givers.

“We need to tell ourselves the truth; drug abuse is a big menace in our country, it is destroying families, we have ignorantly stigmatised for too long and so compounded the issue, and this is making the problem herculean in the north.

“We need to talk about it more openly, create avenues where people can access help without being discriminated against by anyone,” Mrs Bode-George said.

The chairperson of the forum, Hajiya Asma’u Abdulaziz Yari, said some of the interventions the forum will carry out would include running an outreach and awareness campaign themed ‘Breaking the Culture of Silence: Is Your Loved one an Addict?’ across all northern states, the establishment of a 24-hour language sensitive helpline and a fundraising dinner to fund the project.

 “We have found out that a lot of our youths and women are taking drugs, and unfortunately people don’t talk about it, and this is something that we need to properly address as mothers in our various states.

“But in the real essence, all of us are in one way or the other affected by drug  or substance abuse, because we either have a loved one, child, brother, sister or uncle who might have been affected by drug abuse,” said Hajiya Asma’u.

Not relenting or resting on their oars, the governors’ wives have decided not to be onlookers but rather be fully involved in the campaign to stop the scourge.

Wife of Niger State governor, Dr Amina Abubakar Bello, who emphasised that the training would also enhance and better equip them in the NGWF to perform advocacy and sensitisation across the 19 states of the federation, also added that stakeholders from the ministries of health, education, women affairs and youths, representative of the governor’s office, and representative of NGOs would also attend the training.

“Now we are focused on the northern part of the country, but we are going to create other programmes that are going to affect everybody in Nigeria and even those in the south can key into our programmes and benefit from them.

“So we are not restricting the programmes to the north but we are restricting our activities to the north because this is our home states, we are hopeful that the effect of our work will affect other states,” Dr Amina said.

But advocating for a holistic approach, the wife of the president, Hajiya Aisha Muhammadu Buhari called for the inclusion of the ills of drug abuse as a subject in the school curriculum.

She added that the habit could be responsible for the increase in school dropout rates, crime and violence escalating in various parts of the country.

The president’s wife, who was represented by the wife of the Speaker of House of Representatives, Gimbiya Yakubu Dogara, said, “Parents need to talk to their children about the dangers of drug abuse which is a lot easier than losing a child to drugs; young people need to shun drug abuse and be masters of their destiny.”

But hope is not lost says Dr Vincent Udenze, president of Reconnect Health Development Initiative and Synapse Services, as according to him, there are rehab centres that can offer help to addicts and help them get back to normalcy.

His words: “It’s not easy but we all need to chip in to stop the menace, from the government which needs to make policies to make care accessible and stop stigmatisation and discrimination, down to parents who need to stop the culture of denial and support their wards who have a problem.

“It’s an abnormal habit, a syndrome; someone becomes totally dependent on a substance that affects his or her ability to make decisions. So what that person needs is treatment to give up that habit, and it takes time to heal.

“The patient will need a lot of support and understanding from his family and this can be done in a controlled environment depending on what he has been using, and for how long.

“It’s a process, because it’s possible to reach rock bottom, but it’s possible to rise again if the right treatment and support is provided,” Dr Udenze stated.