Mkpuru-Mmiri Epidemic In Southeast: A Verdict

By Nnedinso Ogaziechi, The Nation

The difference between developed nations and the under-developed ones is often the difference between planning and the failure to plan. Planning is not just about yearly budgets or playing politics or panning for elections. Economic planning is at the core of development. According to Dr. Dalton, “Economic planning in the widest sense is the deliberate direction by persons in charge of large resources of economic activity towards a chosen end”.

Planning in its most elementary sense is the process of making logical arrangements towards achieving a set goal. All systems of government across continents and races thrived and still thrive with planning. The system of governments in Africa was well planned and communities thrived before colonialism. Men and women did not struggle for leadership, the complimentary leadership by men and women were seamless and functional. Culture played a huge part.

At the core of all forms of development is a futuristic alignment of values and vision.. The productive management of human resources precedes that of any natural resource in any society. Humans hold the ace to economic planning. Generations depend on history and a seeming baton-passing to continue existing.

The South East of Nigeria has been experiencing so much economic loses due to a myriad of factors. This in turn has contributed to a lot of socio-economic problems resulting in unemployment and the resultant increase in insecurity. There had been allegations and counter allegations about the recent increase in criminal activities in the region. The global effects of the covid-19 pandemic equally affected the economies of the region.

However, the recent increase in youths addicted to the lethal drug Metamphetamine or crystal meth now known in local parlance as Mkpuru mmiri which locally translates to ‘seed of water’ seems to have become the last straw that may break the metaphoric back of the South East economy and by implication the country as a whole given the global nature of human interactions in the twenty first century. The widespread consumption of this deadly drug is presently ravaging communities in the region. Some youths of both genders have lost their minds, some have died, some are on the streets in states clearly indicative of mental illness.

Some of the communities have decided to meet out jungle justice to the local sellers and consumers of the drugs. Some communities have formed vigilantes to arrest both the sellers and the consumers. Some of the suspects have been seen on social media being beaten or punished in different harrowing ways. This crude style is counterproductive as the addicts need medical help and social care. Beating them up exacerbates an already traumatic experience for them.

The RoundTable had a conversation with a few of the families already affected by their children’s involvement in the consumption of the drug and the narratives are as heart-breaking as they are indicative of a sad future if the political leaderships, religious and secular especially in the region do not do something fast. The young people are mostly idle and if the dictum about the idle mind being the devil’s workshop is anything to go by, then the political class especially must treat the issue with a greater sense of urgency than is being done at the moment.

The Roundtable sat with Dr. Regina Amadi-Njoku , an experienced development specialist and an ardent advocate of gender and culture responsive development with over 35 years experience in development at national, continental and international institutions including the United Nations agencies in Africa, Europe and the United states. She retired as UN Assistant Secretary General and the Regional Director for Africa of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) between 2000 and 2008. She has worn many awards for her works on development including the 2020 African Achievement Award in Leadership Excellence.

Dr. Regina Amadi-Njoku recently had a global launch of her latest book, “Culture, Gender, Work in Africa. Yesterday , Today and Tommorrow”. As one whose interest especially in development had spanned decades, we asked her the implication of the new addiction to the dangerous drug euphemistically christened Mkpuru-Mmiri by either the peddlers or the consumers to literarily nuance its lethal effect and make it seemingly more attractive and similar in value to water.

Dr. Amadi-Njoku maintains that if urgent steps are not taken to save the youths in the south East from the lethal drugs, the result in a few years would not be just about economic loses, it is way deeper and more dire than that. To her, we must realize the value in each life cycle and the individual roles that each group plays for development. There are heavy consequences to any community, state of country that do not pay very close attention especially to the first and second life cycles, from 0-15 and 15-30 are the most critical to development. The first 0-15 is fundamental and this is where parenting and adult role models have parts to play.

What it means is that taking drugs or other anti-social behavior is a habit that could be acquired by children from adults or peer groups and that is why parents and other adults must lead by example. So the parents must turn to the good aspects of culture in raising their kids. There must be family bonding that puts value on relationships. The greatest time of every human is between 0-30. The first half is handled by the parents but from 30 there seems to be independence. In development, we must care for both our boys and girls. We must realize that teenage pregnancy and other social ills is about girls as much as it is about the boys too.

So we must realize that anti-social behavior has dire consequences on family, the community and the nation. Any disruption affects productivity because 30-45 is the most productive demographic of any nation. Development cannot happen without the productive group so we must do everything possible to protect them. Without reproduction and production, there will be no humans and development link chain to the future of the community.

The adults must be the beacons to the younger ones. The deviant behavior in the South East must be tackled speedily and there must bebetterl monitoring. Cultural ethos must be brought back. If the youths spend time dealing with broken life cycles, development will be difficult. The development of the individual, communities and the nation must be taken very seriously by everyone in the country.

The Roundtable Conversation equally had a chat with Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, a former Finance, National Planning and Transportation Minister who equally participated in research works on developing countries. He worked with the World Bank and Pacific programmes departments and contributed significantly to micro and macro-economic work on the economies of Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He was Chairman of the World Bank Development Committee among other development duties in and outside the country.

Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu Said he is saddened to observe the effects of the Crystal Meth on young people in the South East and laments that development does not happen at the wave of any magic wand, humans especially young people are the power behind development in any society. They have the energy and time to work and so when they are distracted with drug consumption, development suffers. As a development economist, he advises the political class to take economic planning more seriously.

Creation of jobs and the establishment of vocational schools must be seen as a long term solution to unemployment. When youths are unemployed, the tendency is for them to turn to crimes and most times abuse of available drugs precedes the resort to criminal acts which again disrupts development. The new drug is causing too much damage. It is difficult for parents to keep their kids in school. The drug abuse issue is a grave societal problem and all hands must be on deck to solve the problem.

To him, the governors in the South East, the religious and traditional rulers, the state and national assembly members must be proactive in stemming this descent to anarchy amongst young people. Something must be done by the governors. Their security votes could be deployed to secure the region so that the young people are not manipulated into crimes just because they are idle. The rest of the country has their challenges and complaints but they are moving along. The South East seems to be mired in self-destruction given all kinds of tags and groups.

The political leadership must be more active and set standards below which no one should operate. Law and order must precede development and as such, it is the duty of the leaders to make sure there is security of lives and property. The youths must be kept busy. Unemployment is the root cause for deviant behavior and so the right actions must be taken.. Dr. Kalu believes that politicians must realize that humans must be functional to work for development and so there must be real planning that is structured for growth. It is the responsibility of the leaders in the region to create an environment for development by focusing more in human development.

These two development specialists have worked around the world and seen how countries develop and grow. The Roundtable believes the people must begin to scrutinize those who seek leadership positions. The people must go back to basics and embrace the valuable aspects of culture that are progressive. Youths drive production and so must be armed with all the skills and tools for success. Mkpuru-Mmiri kingpins must be arrested and made to face the law. Allowing communities to keep dehumanizing already traumatized addicts is not a viable solution. Planning for development is.

The dialogue continues…