Without an iota of doubt, most of the problems faced by the country can be traced to the depravities engaged in mainly by the youth: Alcohol, drugs, cultism, prostitution, among others, have become their pastime, sadly. Reports have also shown that Boko Haram insurgents appropriate controlled substances which are often found when they flee from their camps.
Drug, any substance used as medicine or an illegal substance taken for its stimulating or other effects, should ordinarily not be taken as if it is food. Also, it should not be consumed in a way that endangers the health it is meant to improve.
However, a section of Nigerian youth have found something new in drugs – they now use drugs, not as a healing substance, but to influence them to do the extra-ordinary and make them feel ‘high’.
For instance, benylin, codeine and some other syrups for treatment of cough have a natural influence of making one drowsy and dizzy; this is after taking a prescribed normal dose by medical practitioners.
Some other examples with such influence are tramadol, which is widely known as tramol, used as a high pain-killer; sedatives for treating mentally challenged persons, to induce them into sleep; diazepam which has the effect of causing drowsiness, sedation, depression, light-headedness and disorientation.
However, some youth have taken to consuming some of these drugs, generally classified as narcotics, for other reasons than medical treatment to improve health. For instance, codeine, benylin, tramol, among others, have often been consumed at a high rate by addicted young men and women who take them for pleasure.
Some addicts take these hard drugs to induce them to perfect some acts. For instance, some addicts, particularly in Kano, Kaduna and some other states in the northern part of Nigeria take such hard drugs before going into sexual activities. This is common among commercial sex workers and their clients.
Investigations reveal that most of them consume the whole content of the drugs at once, paying no attention to dosage. They simply open the cork of the bottle and empty the content into their mouth like one rushing water after a long journey across the desert.
Also, a lot of young people, especially in some parts of northern Nigeria, go beyond taking these orthodox drugs; they also indulge in the use of strong adhesive substance commonly called ‘solution’, used for mending tubes and tyres. For the addicts to get their supplies, it is just a matter of walking up to a seller and making a request, indicating how much worth of the substance he or she wants to buy.
And the next thing? They go into their usual hidden corners where no eye can see them to inhale the substance, using handkerchiefs or pieces of clothes to wrap it and sniff.
An addict, who spoke to LEADERSHIP Friday at Sauka, an Abuja suburb on the Airport Road, Federal Capital Territory, said he got into drug consumption through peer influence. According to him, his friends later introduced him to the act, adding that he enjoys it because of the feeling he gets after taking it.
According to the young man who shied away from giving his name, “It makes me forget my sorrows and depressions. I have experienced a lot of disappointments and failures. In the midst of that, a lot of my friends abandoned me because I became a sort of burden to them.
“When I started indulging in drugs, it helped to forget what I was passing through or the fact that people abandoned me. This is because, after taking it, I go into a quiet place and lie down or sleep for a long time. It doesn’t make me aggressive or violent”.
Drug addiction, prostitution, stealing and other vices in Kebbi
Kebbi has the lowest crime rate in Nigeria, according to the state Commissioner of Police (CP) Yakubu Jibril. He stated this during the visit of Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase, to Kebbi. But the ugly trend of drug addiction in the state is worrisome although not as high as other states like Kano. Most worrisome is the involvement of married women too, although the singles are now gradually taking the lead in the act from the youths. In Kebbi today, the increasing rate of drug abuse and trafficking among the youth and married women has become a disturbing issue to stakeholders engaged in the fight against the menace.
The state commander of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Abdullahi Zungeru, confirmed the gradual involvement of women in taking drugs such as cough syrups like, benilyn, codeine and cofta. He said that his agency has made some arrests but later discharged them after “rehabilitating and counselling”. The problem here is that more and more people are getting involved especially the women and the type of drugs they normally indulge in are the pharmaceutical drugs like cough syrups. Instead of taking one spoon, some will take up to three or four bottles at a time. Another drug they use is Indian hemp or marijuana.
He said the strategy they use in curbing the trend of drug addiction is by carrying out enlightenment programmes in schools, with community and traditional leaders, as well as involvement of NYSC drug-free clubs in schools. The NDLEA boss also blamed ignorance as one of the reasons why some people take drugs, because of the ignorance of their effects.
A married woman said on condition of anonymity that often, she will buy the cough syrups in chemist’s shops on the pretence that her child is suffering from catarrh. She also admitted that she started taking drugs as a result of peer pressure during weddings and other ceremonies unknown to her parents.
Drug addiction among Plateau youth
Apart from taking illicit drugs, some of the things Plateau youths engage in to get themselves intoxicated include: smoking of Indian hemp, taking of cough syrup called codeine, inhaling of petroleum from ‘jerrycan’, swallowing lizard excreta, inhaling toxic from pit toilet, solution, Valium five, among others.
Some of these drug addicts are often seen every evening along Shendam Street where bicycle spare parts are sold, pretending to buy bicycle spare parts to repair their bicycles, but would buy solutions to go and sniff to get intoxicated.
Similarly, a lot of youths are addicted to goskolo, a dangerous local gin that was discovered and popularised on the Plateau. This illicit drink, also referred to as ‘quick charge’, has sent many to their untimely graves as the community seems helpless in curbing it.
This dangerous liquor is common in slums such as Tudun Wada, Kabong, Nassarawa Gwom, Congo Russia, Jenta Ademu, Eto Baba and Angwan Rukuba areas, just to mention a few.
Ayuba Gyang was seen with buggy red eyes, gazing around and trying hard not to fall asleep. Clad in a dirty yellow striped T shirt and stained blue jeans, it was obvious the 25-year-old was under the influence of something. His incoherent speech, the slow gestures with his hands and the nauseous smell that oozed from his body readily gave him away.
Goskolo is presently causing havoc in Plateau State and unlike other popular local alcoholic drinks, such as burukutu or pito, people claim goskolo is more dangerous because it contains both ethanol found in other alcoholic drinks and methanol which is a chemical known to be dangerous to the human body.
It is the same methanol that experts claim is the main ingredient for making embalmment fluids along with ethanol and formaldehyde.
Some of the side effects of goskolo is lack of appetite, development of swollen eyes, leg and kidney failure. It is also believed that the drink makes addicts look older than their age.
The Plateau State government has banned the sale and consumption of this toxic drink and set up a task force to enforce the ban in the state.
Child prostitution
Prostitution is one of the prevalent social vices, especially among the youth in the society today. Although both males and females can be found guilty of the vice of waywardness and prostitution, society pays more attention to the females, and much more, young ones.
A recent report shows that mega cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja serve as havens for young women who have no other business than to indulge in one form of prostitution or the other.
A teenage girl of 18 who was found hanging out around a brothel along a major street in New Karu, Nasarawa State, was asked why she was into such a terrible life at such a tender age. She said she had lost both of her parents in an accident when she was much younger and her only uncle cared less about her, claiming that feeding was a problem to her. She, then, gave in to the advice of a friend by going into sex hawking.
“Following the death of my parents, I came to live with my uncle in Abuja here. But as time went on, I discovered that he could no longer cope with my daily needs. That was when I began to follow my friend out, at times, to find what to eat. I am not happy hanging out; I am doing this to survive and save money to go to school,” she said.
Cultism among students
One of the vices in which youth greatly indulge is cultism which is common in higher institutions. It has been linked to many reasons such as desire for wealth, lust for power, a peek into the future, ability to communicate with the dead, the novelty of real spiritual experience, among others. Though some have willingly accepted to be members of a cult, others who have refused to join due to some reasons have been forced into it.
As it is today, the menace of cultism and the aggression of its members are often witnessed in violent clashes with other cult members in higher institutions, shooting, fighting, causing death of fellow students, kids and lecturers. Some members have also turned to sexual harassment, rape and spreading of deadly diseases.
Solutions
It is pertinent to note here that it is everyone’s business to find lasting solutions to these vices. Mr Moses Habila, a psychologist in Abuja said: “It will surely take everyone to stop the vices of the youth. Parents, teachers, traditional leaders, religious leaders and every well meaning person in the society.”
He argues, “It is a societal problem.”
Corroborating his views, Hadiza Sule, an academic, said: ”Until we all correct our children, we will continue to have these problems. We should go back to the culture of making every child our child. This will go a long way in helping us out.”
For Mallam Abubakar Isa, a resident of Karu, Abuja, the government has “a lot to do, the government should not treat offenders with kid gloves. No child should be seen as being above the law. So anyone caught in these acts should face the full wrath of the law.”
-Leadership
