Nigeria Moves From Drug Transit To Consuming Nation – Agency

Director-General, Kaduna State Bureau for Substance Abuse, Prevention and Treatment (KADBUSA), Dr. Joseph Maigari has blamed the worsening insecurity in the country on drugs, observing that the country has moved from a drug transit nation to a consumer nation.

Maigari noted that the authorities were fighting suppliers of drugs many years ago but failed to pay attention to drug demands in the country.

He explained that in Kaduna State, about 10.9% of the people were involved in drug abuse, pointing out that drug abuse is one of the root causes of banditry and other forms of insecurity in Nigeria.

The Director-General made the observation at a stakeholders’ meeting with civil society groups and non-governmental organizations at the headquarters of the Bureau in Kaduna.

According to him, “the prevalence of substance abuse started many years back when Nigeria became a transit point for drug traffickers to Europe.

“However, inadequate efforts to address the challenge through the supply side, while leaving the demand side contributed immensely to the huge growth of the challenge.”

He observed that there were consequences of substance abuse in terms of banditry and security challenges in the country, saying that it’s actually a pandemic.

Maigari noted that in Kaduna State they were looking at it from both the demand and the supply sides and had made progress in the demand reduction as the State was the first to engage in legislative and legal framework.

He added that drug abuse is the next big problem on health, saying that that was why there was the need for adequate sensitisation, public enlightenment and education to achieve behavioural change.

Hajiya Aliko Mohammed, a member of one of the civil society organisations, enjoined the stakeholders to focus on the root causes, stressing that “it’s important to look at schools and introduce it into the curriculum, maybe five minutes every day to create awareness.”