Nigeria News
Curbing Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking
By Rasak Musbau
June 26 is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, this day serves as a reminder of the goals agreed to by member states for creating an international society free of drug abuse. It aims to raise awareness of the major problems that illicit drugs present to society and at the same time, remind youths and adults not to make the mistake of experimenting with drugs.
World Health Organization defines substance abuse as “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs”. It is estimated that at least 76.3 million people struggle with alcohol use disorders contributing to 1.8 million deaths per year. The United Nations reported that around 185 million people globally over the age of 15 were consuming drugs by the end of the 20th century.
Drug abuse (addiction) involves compulsively seeking to use a substance, regardless of the potentially negative social, psychological and physical consequences. Certain drugs, such as narcotics and cocaine, are more physically addictive than some other drugs.
One has control over the choice to start using drugs, but once addicted, the pleasurable effect of drugs makes one want to keep using them. There are lots of reasons why people take illegal drugs. Some use drugs to escape their problems while others are bored, curious or just want to feel good. People may be pressured into taking drugs to “fit in” with a particular crowd or they may take drugs to rebel or get attention.
An addiction is not just measured by how many times a person uses a drug. Some drugs are so addictive that they may only be used once or twice before the user loses control. A person crosses the line between abuse and addiction when he is no longer trying the drug to have fun but because he has come to depend on it.
People can become addicted to illegal drugs as well as drugs prescribed by doctors. When prescription drugs are taken the right way, they are safe and there is usually little chance of addiction. However, prescription drugs can be dangerous if they are abused (for example, taking too much or taking them when they are not needed). Mothers and guardians most often administer drugs on their children without going to health providers. This is also drug abuse. Some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs are painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.
The more worrisome drugs being abused in our environment is marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. The drug abusers are mostly youths. This should be a source of concern to every one of us. While casual use of marijuana exists among the affluent, it is more common among school drop-outs, homeless and unemployed and unemployable that are acutely sensitive to all sorts of criminal behaviours.
The criminal activities of the drug users at their hideouts (which are not hidden anyway) are now becoming too frequent for comfort. There are those who operate like cults, carving out their territories of influence where they intimidate, rape and rob innocent residents at will. Residents of areas such as Abisogun Leigh Street in Ogba, Queens Drive (formerly Oyinkan Abayomi), Victoria Island, Adura field in Alagbado and ‘Kuwait’ located inside Gowon Estate in Egbeda know better of their harrowing experience from this group. There was a particular incident I witnessed earlier this year when a whole street had to close its entrance when there was a fight by the omo amugbos where guns were used around 8 O’clock in the morning. Some, including children fell into gutters while scrambling for safety.
Next, are forceful beggars who illegally obtain toll from motorists at alternate roads when there is traffic on the highways. There are also those who operate on the streets that one must obtain ‘clearance’ from when one buys a new car. If much was not achieved from ‘street begging’, some do enter into mosques and churches to go and beg for money. Their tales usually range from their wives being critically ill at the hospitals, challenge to offset house rent or they are in need of money to eat.
It is important to illustrate what drugs such as marijuana do to the body and minds of the users. The smoke of marijuana is toxic. It can lead to serious disorders, including cancer. The negative effects also include confusion, acute panic reactions, anxiety attacks, fear and loss of self-control. Chronic marijuana users may develop a motivational syndrome characterized by passivity, decreased motivation, and preoccupation with taking drugs. Like alcoholic intoxication, marijuana intoxication impairs judgment, comprehension, memory, speech, problem-solving abilities. Of particular worry is the permanence of its ill-effect among people who began smoking in adolescence. Aside the smokers, every one of us, as passive smoker is a potential victim of some of the ill-effects. Yet, there is hardly any area in Nigeria free of this drug problem and the subsequent criminal behaviour of its users.
No doubt, when you give people foothold, they take a strong hold. As such the gory tale of open use of marijuana is an indictment on the part of our security operatives especially the anti-narcotic agency. The federal controlled security agency legalised this illegal drug through their own illegal act of extorting money from traders. Some of them are also criminals in uniform who smoke at same spots where criminal activities are planned and executed by hoodlums. The traditional standards and values that place additional responsibility on holders of public offices in sane society are almost nil here in Nigeria.
The police, in particular, will in the years to come have much more to do if the trend of crime and behaviour that aids drug is not given the attention it deserves now. Plainly put, our anti-drug war is still cosmetic in approach. We will be fooling ourselves if we believe we are tackling the situation by merely sensitizing people at motor parks and running jingles in the media without effectively starting the war from the production and distribution outlets. Treatment of cause should be more important than its symptoms.
In sum, anti-narcotic agencies must step up the clampdown on the production, control of the sale, distribution and use of illicit drugs. Agencies of government saddled with national orientation and those with responsibility of curbing crimes must be up and doing. In this regard, Lagos State Government’s decision to establish Drug-Free Club and plan to include drug abuse in its school curriculum is seen as right on-spot.
As we celebrate this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking globally, the lesson for us all to learn is that breaking addiction to drug is the only way to get off the hook. It may not be easy to quit. But the efforts will be rewarded by better health, better relationships with the people in one’s life and a sense of accomplishment that only living drug-free can give. Make health your “new high” not drugs.
•Musbau wrote from Lagos.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
DisNaija.Com publishes regular posts on Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Online Nigeria Gist.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Nigeria News
Follow @Dis_Naija
Your Opinion Counts. Be sure To Leave A Comment, If You Have Any.
Please Like, Share or Tweet. Your Support Is Appreciated.
The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
Buhari Will Win In 2019: US Institute
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has predicted that President Muhammadu Buhari will win the 2019 election. The organisation...
Why Buhari Deserves Second Term – Lai Mohammed
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that President Muhammadu Buhari deserved second term election because,...
Atiku Presidential Campaign Council: PDP Releases List of Members
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday released the list of party members to handle the campaign team of the...
Obasanjo Forgives Atiku, Endorses Him For President
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday said he has reviewed his stance on not backing his former deputy for the...
Buhari, Atiku In Battle Of Integrity Over 2019 Poll
THE brickbats continued yesterday between President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The All Progressives Congress (APC) and...
Nigeria News
Curbing Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking
By Rasak Musbau
June 26 is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, this day serves as a reminder of the goals agreed to by member states for creating an international society free of drug abuse. It aims to raise awareness of the major problems that illicit drugs present to society and at the same time, remind youths and adults not to make the mistake of experimenting with drugs.
World Health Organization defines substance abuse as “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs”. It is estimated that at least 76.3 million people struggle with alcohol use disorders contributing to 1.8 million deaths per year. The United Nations reported that around 185 million people globally over the age of 15 were consuming drugs by the end of the 20th century.
Drug abuse (addiction) involves compulsively seeking to use a substance, regardless of the potentially negative social, psychological and physical consequences. Certain drugs, such as narcotics and cocaine, are more physically addictive than some other drugs.
One has control over the choice to start using drugs, but once addicted, the pleasurable effect of drugs makes one want to keep using them. There are lots of reasons why people take illegal drugs. Some use drugs to escape their problems while others are bored, curious or just want to feel good. People may be pressured into taking drugs to “fit in” with a particular crowd or they may take drugs to rebel or get attention.
An addiction is not just measured by how many times a person uses a drug. Some drugs are so addictive that they may only be used once or twice before the user loses control. A person crosses the line between abuse and addiction when he is no longer trying the drug to have fun but because he has come to depend on it.
People can become addicted to illegal drugs as well as drugs prescribed by doctors. When prescription drugs are taken the right way, they are safe and there is usually little chance of addiction. However, prescription drugs can be dangerous if they are abused (for example, taking too much or taking them when they are not needed). Mothers and guardians most often administer drugs on their children without going to health providers. This is also drug abuse. Some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs are painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.
The more worrisome drugs being abused in our environment is marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. The drug abusers are mostly youths. This should be a source of concern to every one of us. While casual use of marijuana exists among the affluent, it is more common among school drop-outs, homeless and unemployed and unemployable that are acutely sensitive to all sorts of criminal behaviours.
The criminal activities of the drug users at their hideouts (which are not hidden anyway) are now becoming too frequent for comfort. There are those who operate like cults, carving out their territories of influence where they intimidate, rape and rob innocent residents at will. Residents of areas such as Abisogun Leigh Street in Ogba, Queens Drive (formerly Oyinkan Abayomi), Victoria Island, Adura field in Alagbado and ‘Kuwait’ located inside Gowon Estate in Egbeda know better of their harrowing experience from this group. There was a particular incident I witnessed earlier this year when a whole street had to close its entrance when there was a fight by the omo amugbos where guns were used around 8 O’clock in the morning. Some, including children fell into gutters while scrambling for safety.
Next, are forceful beggars who illegally obtain toll from motorists at alternate roads when there is traffic on the highways. There are also those who operate on the streets that one must obtain ‘clearance’ from when one buys a new car. If much was not achieved from ‘street begging’, some do enter into mosques and churches to go and beg for money. Their tales usually range from their wives being critically ill at the hospitals, challenge to offset house rent or they are in need of money to eat.
It is important to illustrate what drugs such as marijuana do to the body and minds of the users. The smoke of marijuana is toxic. It can lead to serious disorders, including cancer. The negative effects also include confusion, acute panic reactions, anxiety attacks, fear and loss of self-control. Chronic marijuana users may develop a motivational syndrome characterized by passivity, decreased motivation, and preoccupation with taking drugs. Like alcoholic intoxication, marijuana intoxication impairs judgment, comprehension, memory, speech, problem-solving abilities. Of particular worry is the permanence of its ill-effect among people who began smoking in adolescence. Aside the smokers, every one of us, as passive smoker is a potential victim of some of the ill-effects. Yet, there is hardly any area in Nigeria free of this drug problem and the subsequent criminal behaviour of its users.
No doubt, when you give people foothold, they take a strong hold. As such the gory tale of open use of marijuana is an indictment on the part of our security operatives especially the anti-narcotic agency. The federal controlled security agency legalised this illegal drug through their own illegal act of extorting money from traders. Some of them are also criminals in uniform who smoke at same spots where criminal activities are planned and executed by hoodlums. The traditional standards and values that place additional responsibility on holders of public offices in sane society are almost nil here in Nigeria.
The police, in particular, will in the years to come have much more to do if the trend of crime and behaviour that aids drug is not given the attention it deserves now. Plainly put, our anti-drug war is still cosmetic in approach. We will be fooling ourselves if we believe we are tackling the situation by merely sensitizing people at motor parks and running jingles in the media without effectively starting the war from the production and distribution outlets. Treatment of cause should be more important than its symptoms.
In sum, anti-narcotic agencies must step up the clampdown on the production, control of the sale, distribution and use of illicit drugs. Agencies of government saddled with national orientation and those with responsibility of curbing crimes must be up and doing. In this regard, Lagos State Government’s decision to establish Drug-Free Club and plan to include drug abuse in its school curriculum is seen as right on-spot.
As we celebrate this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking globally, the lesson for us all to learn is that breaking addiction to drug is the only way to get off the hook. It may not be easy to quit. But the efforts will be rewarded by better health, better relationships with the people in one’s life and a sense of accomplishment that only living drug-free can give. Make health your “new high” not drugs.
•Musbau wrote from Lagos.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
DisNaija.Com publishes regular posts on Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Online Nigeria Gist.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Nigeria News
Follow @Dis_Naija
Your Opinion Counts. Be sure To Leave A Comment, If You Have Any.
Please Like, Share or Tweet. Your Support Is Appreciated.
The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria News
Curbing Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking
By Rasak Musbau
June 26 is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, this day serves as a reminder of the goals agreed to by member states for creating an international society free of drug abuse. It aims to raise awareness of the major problems that illicit drugs present to society and at the same time, remind youths and adults not to make the mistake of experimenting with drugs.
World Health Organization defines substance abuse as “the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs”. It is estimated that at least 76.3 million people struggle with alcohol use disorders contributing to 1.8 million deaths per year. The United Nations reported that around 185 million people globally over the age of 15 were consuming drugs by the end of the 20th century.
Drug abuse (addiction) involves compulsively seeking to use a substance, regardless of the potentially negative social, psychological and physical consequences. Certain drugs, such as narcotics and cocaine, are more physically addictive than some other drugs.
One has control over the choice to start using drugs, but once addicted, the pleasurable effect of drugs makes one want to keep using them. There are lots of reasons why people take illegal drugs. Some use drugs to escape their problems while others are bored, curious or just want to feel good. People may be pressured into taking drugs to “fit in” with a particular crowd or they may take drugs to rebel or get attention.
An addiction is not just measured by how many times a person uses a drug. Some drugs are so addictive that they may only be used once or twice before the user loses control. A person crosses the line between abuse and addiction when he is no longer trying the drug to have fun but because he has come to depend on it.
People can become addicted to illegal drugs as well as drugs prescribed by doctors. When prescription drugs are taken the right way, they are safe and there is usually little chance of addiction. However, prescription drugs can be dangerous if they are abused (for example, taking too much or taking them when they are not needed). Mothers and guardians most often administer drugs on their children without going to health providers. This is also drug abuse. Some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs are painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs.
The more worrisome drugs being abused in our environment is marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. The drug abusers are mostly youths. This should be a source of concern to every one of us. While casual use of marijuana exists among the affluent, it is more common among school drop-outs, homeless and unemployed and unemployable that are acutely sensitive to all sorts of criminal behaviours.
The criminal activities of the drug users at their hideouts (which are not hidden anyway) are now becoming too frequent for comfort. There are those who operate like cults, carving out their territories of influence where they intimidate, rape and rob innocent residents at will. Residents of areas such as Abisogun Leigh Street in Ogba, Queens Drive (formerly Oyinkan Abayomi), Victoria Island, Adura field in Alagbado and ‘Kuwait’ located inside Gowon Estate in Egbeda know better of their harrowing experience from this group. There was a particular incident I witnessed earlier this year when a whole street had to close its entrance when there was a fight by the omo amugbos where guns were used around 8 O’clock in the morning. Some, including children fell into gutters while scrambling for safety.
Next, are forceful beggars who illegally obtain toll from motorists at alternate roads when there is traffic on the highways. There are also those who operate on the streets that one must obtain ‘clearance’ from when one buys a new car. If much was not achieved from ‘street begging’, some do enter into mosques and churches to go and beg for money. Their tales usually range from their wives being critically ill at the hospitals, challenge to offset house rent or they are in need of money to eat.
It is important to illustrate what drugs such as marijuana do to the body and minds of the users. The smoke of marijuana is toxic. It can lead to serious disorders, including cancer. The negative effects also include confusion, acute panic reactions, anxiety attacks, fear and loss of self-control. Chronic marijuana users may develop a motivational syndrome characterized by passivity, decreased motivation, and preoccupation with taking drugs. Like alcoholic intoxication, marijuana intoxication impairs judgment, comprehension, memory, speech, problem-solving abilities. Of particular worry is the permanence of its ill-effect among people who began smoking in adolescence. Aside the smokers, every one of us, as passive smoker is a potential victim of some of the ill-effects. Yet, there is hardly any area in Nigeria free of this drug problem and the subsequent criminal behaviour of its users.
No doubt, when you give people foothold, they take a strong hold. As such the gory tale of open use of marijuana is an indictment on the part of our security operatives especially the anti-narcotic agency. The federal controlled security agency legalised this illegal drug through their own illegal act of extorting money from traders. Some of them are also criminals in uniform who smoke at same spots where criminal activities are planned and executed by hoodlums. The traditional standards and values that place additional responsibility on holders of public offices in sane society are almost nil here in Nigeria.
The police, in particular, will in the years to come have much more to do if the trend of crime and behaviour that aids drug is not given the attention it deserves now. Plainly put, our anti-drug war is still cosmetic in approach. We will be fooling ourselves if we believe we are tackling the situation by merely sensitizing people at motor parks and running jingles in the media without effectively starting the war from the production and distribution outlets. Treatment of cause should be more important than its symptoms.
In sum, anti-narcotic agencies must step up the clampdown on the production, control of the sale, distribution and use of illicit drugs. Agencies of government saddled with national orientation and those with responsibility of curbing crimes must be up and doing. In this regard, Lagos State Government’s decision to establish Drug-Free Club and plan to include drug abuse in its school curriculum is seen as right on-spot.
As we celebrate this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking globally, the lesson for us all to learn is that breaking addiction to drug is the only way to get off the hook. It may not be easy to quit. But the efforts will be rewarded by better health, better relationships with the people in one’s life and a sense of accomplishment that only living drug-free can give. Make health your “new high” not drugs.
•Musbau wrote from Lagos.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
DisNaija.Com publishes regular posts on Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Online Nigeria Gist.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Nigeria News
Follow @Dis_Naija
Your Opinion Counts. Be sure To Leave A Comment, If You Have Any.
Please Like, Share or Tweet. Your Support Is Appreciated.
The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Leave a Reply