From Ajiri Daniels, Abuja
The abuse of illicit drugs by young individuals across the country has developed into a worrying trend that has continued to dominate public discourse and has been found to have severe negative impacts on society. In addition to reports of abusers having chronic health concerns, experts and stakeholders have also established a nexus between the menace and rising incidences of violent crimes.
With the alarming statistics showing how many promising young Nigerians are falling prey to this national enemy, leading to shortages in manpower engagement across many sectors, there are strong indications that the nation, and by extension Africa, sits dangerously on a keg of gunpowder over rising cases of drug and substance abuse.
These submissions were made at the 8th National Youth Summit on Drug and Substance Abuse themed: “Strengthening Prevention and Promoting Community Partnership” recently held in Abuja.
The 2-day Summit which was organised by the African Youths Initiative on Crime Prevention (AYICRIP), in partnership with the World Federation Against Drugs (WFAD), had delegates from the field of drug and substance abuse prevention cutting across secondary and tertiary institutions, practitioners, policymakers, Corps members, and some ardent prevention advocates.
In his welcome address, the founder/executive director of AYICRIP, Amb. Chris C. Ibe, noted that the summit aimed to unite youth leaders and leaders of NGOs that lead the battle against drug, alcohol, and other substance abuse as well as illicit trafficking in the nation as it affects young people.
“This annual summit is targeted towards bringing together youths from diverse backgrounds and region with the aim of rechanneling their energy towards meaningful engagements, creating a platform for more youth driven development initiative to spring up, giving them access to mentorship and counseling sessions and availing them the opportunity to network and build relevant connections that can translates to making healthy life decisions and upward development.
“With a greater number of Nigerian youths at home as a result of ASUU strike, there is currently a surge in youth involvement and indulgence towards criminal/violent activities often driven by abuse of drug and substances. The drug abuse problem is currently a huge disaster plaguing the country with little or no intervention for prevention,” Ibe said.
The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Dr. Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi, in his keynote speech lamented the increase in drug and hard substance abuse across the country, especially among the youths. He explained that the menace was further aggravated after the COVID-19 pandemic owing to job losses caused by economic meltdown and social contradictions arising from school closures and increase in out-of-school persons.
According to Dr. Arabi, drug and hard substance abuse in Nigeria are influenced by factors such as poor education background, peer group pressure, poor socio-economic status, curiosity and poor academic performance.
“Youths in Nigeria constitute a significant percentage of the active population and teaming labour force required for transforming the socio-economic dynamics of the nation. In order to ensure that a viable future for this country is sustained, the need to invest in preventing drug and hard substance abuse by youths is a strategic motive of government that cannot be compromised.
“If decisions and actions are not taken to prevent the youths who are the active population from consuming hard drugs and substance, then the country in no distance time will be consumed by lunatics, miscreants and unproductive workforce,” Arabi warned.
Other guest speakers at the event jointly called on youths to rise up against the scourge of substance abuse, considering the dangers it poses to their growth and development. Additionally, they urged civil society organisations and Nigerians to implement a preventive strategy against foreign imports that are promoting legalisation in a developing and vulnerable society like Nigeria by adopting a prevention strategy specific to Nigerian culture and society.
Goodwill messages were provided by Regina Mattson (Secretary-General of the World Federation against Drugs), Representatives of NDLEA’s Drug Demand Reduction Department, Registrar, the Honourable Minister of Health, the registrar of Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and other advocacy partners.