By Joy Odor
Drug abuse, trafficking and tobacco is said to be a threat to our community, Nigeria as a country and a threat to the 2023 forthcoming electoral process.
Drugs has taken the minds of so many of our good future leader, it has deceived many, separated families and caused mistrust in the communities.
Most crimes committed are done under the influence of drugs, infact criminal take drugs in order to do what a normal human being cannot do.
So months back, the NDLEA arrested a person in connection to Captagon pills, very highly addictive pills that can produce a euphoric intensity in users, making them to stay awake for days, making them fearless and predisposes them to reckless action.
How many people do we know that has successfully bring in such drugs in Nigeria? Any lover of this county should support the NDLEA Act to accommodate drug testing for the entire political aspirant and even all Nigerian in public sector, I personally expect the Senate to support this Act because of the high level of drugs abuse in the country.
This NDLEA Act will not just tract users but help users find help to flush out the drugs and come out of the prison of drugs. Anyone that is against this Act of drug testing is proving to be an enemy of the progress of this country and an Aspirant that is against this Act of Drug test is a suspect.
This is the though of Margaret Kwa’ada Julius, the Founder of Eye Opener Youth and Women Foundation and Tobacco Abstinence Club in an interview with Business Day Newspaper on drug abuse, trafficking and 2023 general elections.
She said Nigerian should know that drug users are just like other patient of other diseases that need treatment, so I see this NDLEA Act as a way of bringing healing to many future leaders. So being a drug user, can come out of the mess, if he/she desire, the truth is that, you cannot get things rightly done if you are using drugs, however, I call on the NDLEA to make sure this testing machines are standardand globally proven.
The biggest challenge we are having in this country is the loss of integrity, people don’t value their self-worth, and people want to force darkness as light because of desperate to become wealthy, do you know that people can sell their vote by accepting money from a person that is known as a drug dealer within the community?
Speaking on drug barons funding candidates for 2023 election, Margaret said, of cause, just as every good person would love to sponsor his aspirant into power, same is with a drug baron: a drug baron that has his choice political aspirant can spend his last dime to bring his candidate into power just because of hisevil business security.
The NDLEA Act of drug test is a very good development since themachine are well standardand globally proven
Everyone knowns that Nigeria has a strong institutional person in charge of the drug agency, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency ( NDLEA) fighting hard drug victiously those who are in the criminal enterprise such as politician and government officials as secret drug barons.
The very big business Nigerians are dying to be involved in now, is politics which will become a hidout for drug barons under the cover of being a politicians. Professional drug Barons have flocked into politics to avoid being arrested.
Our youth are now put under the influence of hard drugs and employed by politicians to tame their opponents and emerge victorious at the polls.
The growing habit of hard drug consumption in Nigeria, especially among youths, is a source of growing concern ahead of the 2023 general elections. One of such means is the widespread political violence occasioned by high profile thuggery in the country.
Statistics of people killed, maimed and properties destroyed as a result of political violence are true testimonies, this violence is being perpetrated by Nigerian youths, who are supposedly, the leaders of tomorrow and Nigeria is getting a bad image internationally due to drug trafficking
Most of the kidnappings taking place across the country are executed by the youths. These youths are unfortunately, influenced by the lure of drugs and the lust for financial benefits.
That is why the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has rejected the proposal that political parties should make drug integrity tests part of its screening requirements for aspirants seeking elective offices in the 2023 general election.
The National Chairman of IPAC, Yabagi Sani described the proposal as outrageous, outlandish, preposterous, despicable and deliberate attack on the sensibilities of lovers of democracy in Nigeria.
The awkward proposal portrays politicians as drug addicts who must be certified fit to run for various elective offices by the agency. It is reprehensible and unacceptable.
Sani demanded an apology from NDLEA, advised the anti-narcotic agency to desist from impugning the character and integrity of politicians, including those contesting for president who are patriotic and highly respected
While the Nigerian Bar Association (NMA) supported the move and advised the agency to approach the National Assembly for legal backing for the drug test, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) said the drug test could only be enforced if it had legal backing, advised the NDLEA to submit a bill seeking to make the test mandatory.
Recall that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had proposed that political parties should carry out drug tests on all aspirants seeking to contest political offices on their platforms.
The Chairman of the Agency, Brig-General Mohamed Buba Marwa mentioned that it’s operatives have on several occasions apprehend politicians in possession of illegal drugs and was disappointed that the drive to have political officers undergo drug-tests before they assume office did not scale through.
Illicit drug trafficking has become a serious social problem in Nigeria. Nigeria is now a major cannabis cultivating and consuming country.
Four years ago, the country had 10.6 million users of the psychoactive plant, which made it the world’s leading cannabis-consuming country.
The country has also become a dumping ground for illicit pharmaceutical opioids, especially codeine and tramadol, just as it remains Africa’s major transit country for cocaine and heroin.
National Drug Use Survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed that the drug use prevalence in Nigeria is 14.4per cent. This is relatively high compared to the annual global average of 5.5per cent. That the country had 14.3 million of its compatriots who abused drugs is a cause of concern.
The findings of the survey suggested that one in five persons who had used drugs was suffering from Drug Use Disorder, that is approximately three million Nigerians, with no less than 155, 000 among them in dire need of medical treatment.
Substances often smuggled by merchants and traffickers through the seaports include cocaine, hashish, cannabis sativa, codeine syrup, heroin, opioids, colorado and tramadol, among others.
Stakeholders have called for more efforts to rid the country of this menace and we need to face the Hydra headed monster and stamp it out.
The law fighting drug trafficking in Nigeria is episoft than other counties such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and ldonosia that have strong punishment which Nigeria should adopt.
Recall, a bill seeking to amend the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act to check the incidence of light sentencing for drug offenders, has passed second reading in the Senate.
This followed the presentation of the lead debate on the general principles of the bill by the sponsor, Senator Dimka Hezekiah (Plateau Central).
The bill entitled, “A Bill for an Act to amend the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act CAP N 30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004” was read for the first time on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. “The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act Cap. N 30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 provides for stringent penalties for persons involved in the importation and exportation of hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin.
“These penalties range from life imprisonment to 15 years which is the minimum penalty by the Supreme Court but some judges of the Federal High Court had continued to pass ridiculously light and illegal sentences on convicts.
“Rather than a term of imprisonment of 15 years, the maximum sentence passed on any convict was a term of 3 years for heroin. Some of these have been as low as 4 months imprisonment for 1.44 kg of cocaine.
The attention of the Federal Government and relevant to agencies, journalists, doctors, lawyers, inventors are called to do act fast to strengthening the enabling Act to save the next generation.
