Elements of the Nigerian society have
since the 80″s been besieged by the menace of hard drugs: destroying lives, families and our immediate society. A close look at the situation provides no comforting auguries, as statistics available show that 14.4 percent (14.3 million Nigerians) of persons ranging from the ages of 15 and 64 years have abused or have engaged in the abuse of drugs.
Now, despite the creation of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in 1990, its funding and several reforms as an establishment designated to fight and make the nation one that is drug free has struggled in such a fight, as drug prevalence as well as the tendency for these drug barons to make our shores a ready haven for both the transiting and it’s destination seems to be growing and at a most alarming rate.
The drug war waged by the NDLEA and sister agencies against these drug barons and their cartels has seen somewhat a seesaw of acheivements and jeremiads. On one hand, the agency has managed to bust criminal gangs and cartels and has sent many to jail, however despite all these, the drug business seems to be proliferating and like the Hydra of Lernea for every head chopped, two or more would grow. Such an impugnable situation given the paucity of resources at the availability of the agency allows these drug kingpins to run circles around it that it is yet a miracle that the NDLEA can afford to carry out this war.
The NDLEA over the years has not only pitched its battlements against local drug barons, it has also, given the nation’s strategic location in subsaharan Africa, as well as the fact that it is a major transit nation to a number of major continents namely Europe, Latin, Asia and North America and even within the African continent has engaged global cartels who’s earnings from such an illicit trade are a hundred times bigger than the meagre budgets approved for the drug agency over the years.
There is then the emergence of new drugs such as tramadol, methamphetamine, Colorado, codeine, Rohypnol and skunk , these drugs have helped worsen the prevalence of drugs among Nigerians, majorly its youths. Social media these days has been rife with videos depicting the effects of these drugs on a number of users.
With these new drugs also come a couple of sophisticated means to either manufacture or traffic such drugs with the NDLEA lacking the manpower or surveillance intelligence tools to check such proliferation.
There is also the issue of corruption within the NDLEA and the fact that there exists some form of linkage between a number of these cartels and certain powerful and influential Nigerians. My interactions with some passionate NDLEA officers led me to a story about how a raid on a methamphetamine manufacturing centre in a particular SouthEast state had been frustrated by a prominent SouthEast businessman. One report described such a situation as the “elite involvement and protection networks” and went further to suggest that it was only due to the remits of Nigeria’s oil industry that had kept Nigeria away from the control of these drug barons.
When we corelate the relationship between drug abuse, youth restiveness and insecurity only then will we understand that until we are able to arrest the nation’s drug challenges deploying effective counter-narcotic policies which will take an all round approach in which agencies like the NDLEA will not only attempt to stem the manufacturing or flow of such drugs but also trace and follow the money which fuels such a trade and stop its flow, only then will we reduce such challenges as well as save generations yet unborn from the clutch of drug and substance abuse.
Government should also recognize that there are also a number of key factors driving the consumption of hard drugs in Nigeria. Such factors which include poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and social inequality are often cited as underlying factors that contribute to the huge demand for drugs amongst Nigerians particularly its youths.
Understanding this, efforts to address the drug war in Nigeria will also much require a multifaceted approach, including strengthening the NDLEA’s enforcement capabilities, ensuring more severe punitive measures for drug pushers, promoting social and economic development, and providing effective drug demand reduction programs. International cooperation and support are also crucial in combating transnational drug trafficking networks and disrupting the supply chain of illicit drugs.
Advocacy also holds a key to helping resolve the drug problem, government and its agencies can deploy such using schools, churches and civil society organisations, its aim would be to change the mindset of the general public and assist them.form or adapt to drug free lifestyles.
A drug free Nigeria is indeed possible.and this drug war can indeed be won…
May Nigeria Succeed!