By Alex Byanyiko
I have no intention to make light of such a serious issue as the COVID 19, which is currently waging a relentless war against the continuous existence of humans in most parts of the globe.
With a recent statistic of over one million confirmed cases and 60,000 deaths in 181 countries, as reported by BBC News on-line of April 4, 2020, I can understand why it is important to put up every necessary measure in place that will enable us defeat this horrifying pandemic.
However, I find it really amusing when I see people wearing all sorts of face masks and hand gloves even while alone driving in their private cars. That is not to say that I do not understand some of them might be on their way to work or market where there might be other people whose status is not known, hence constituting a risk for others. But come on, for this lonely moments in your car?
But that is humanity. Most of us are basically reactionary and only respond to emergency situations, especially in my beloved country, Nigeria. As individuals and government, very many important things are left unattended to except they pose some kind of emergency threat that can affect everyone, irrespective of social class or strata. Here, we mostly only attend to issues that offer us immediate gratification. That is one of the reasons Nigeria has remained basically a mono-economy depending largely on her oil while leaving her huge human and other natural resources unexploited.
Since in the early 80’s, whenever the price of oil suffers significant downward spiral, predictably Nigeria always slides off right into economic recession. This is not only because of our lazy dependence on oil, but also the improvident lifestyle of our so-called leaders.
If today our oil resources run dry or out of need by the world, we will, no doubt, be forced to explore other blessings of God that are lying in limbo across various parts of our country.
Last year I wrote a couple of articles in my attempt at making a contribution towards fighting the menace of drug addiction in our society through prevention, but later took a long break while attending to other projects. However, with the recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating effects, my mind went back to this equally important problem that has been devastating our society, destroying our future and yet most of us act in denial or behave as though it is not such a big deal.
Drug addiction is doing more damages to our society than we readily acknowledge. Daily, our youths are increasingly exposed to wrong companies, situations and messages that persuade them into using drugs and eventually becoming addicted, with the attendant consequences. Yet we, as a people, are doing very little to address the problem.
It was a pleasant surprise for me to find, in the course of researching for this article, a statistical document on the drug use prevalence in Nigeria, 2018.
The survey was conducted by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Center for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) with technical support from the United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime.
One would have expected that with the findings of such survey, Nigerian government would have, and seen to have taken, a drastic step that would galvanize all stake-holders into doing something more effective towards fighting the menace of drug addiction. But this is yet to be seen.
In that important document, it was reported that Nigeria, in 2017, had 10.6 million users of cannabis, 4.6 million users of opioids, 2.4 million users of cough syrup, 340 thousand users of ecstasy, 300 thousand users of solvents and inhalants, 238 thousand users of amphetamines & prescriptions stimulants and 92 thousand users of cocaine.
A quick look at the demography showed that such drug users fell between the ages of 15 and 64 years. Imagine the destiny of these people being destroyed. Those who live long enough become risk factors, or liability, not only to themselves, but to their families and to the society.
Not all drug users are criminals, but most criminals use drugs which embolden their penchant for crime.
I do not think this is good for a country that is so desperately in need of her productive human resources to drive her developmental programmes.
But this is Nigeria. Most of our leaders pay more attention to things that give them chance to siphon public funds. Emergency situations such as the COVID 19 pandemic creates opportunity for avaricious opportunists to fill up their pockets.
In 2009, while I was gathering materials for my work on preventing drug addiction, I went to the office of the NDLEA at Gwagwalada, Abuja. What I saw that time was an eye-sore. I wondered if the office was meant to reflect the sorry sight of or hopelessness of drug addicts. I have not been there since then. I hope it is better now. But I ask, why can’t the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) get equal attention or support as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)?
Anyway, I have my own reservations with the NDLEA too. I think that, in spite of their financial challenges, they are paying too much attention towards arresting drug dealers rather than carrying out some enlightenment programmes that would enable more youth to stay off drugs. I believe that the NDLEA also knows it is more effective to prevent drug addiction than to fight it or help those who are already addicted.
I hope my writings here will challenge parents to take responsibility in educating their children against the dangers of drug addiction. For anyone who has witnessed the effects of drug addiction, whether directly or indirectly, I believe will agree with me that it is a dangerous societal problem that should be tackled with all seriousness.
I pray that we all remain saved from COVID 19 and that it shall be defeated sooner than later. In the next article, we will be looking more closely at the dangers of drug addiction to individuals, families and the society in general.
Byanyiko is a movie maker, song writer and cinematographer. He writes from Abuja