All are out in the war against drug abuse in Nigeria which seems to be forming a massive lump in the throat of the society. Research has shown that Kano is one of the states with high number of drugs and substance abusers and the numbers are continuously adding up.
Hamza Umar, commander Kano state National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, stated that the increasing number of youths engaged in drugs and substance abuse as well as its destructive effect is leading the nation into decay. “The situation is getting out of control as it affects everyone including teenagers from the age of 14,” said an officer from the Hisbah Board, which is the Kano Islamic morality police. He added that recently they arrested some female students who were into the act of substance abuse in their school which is located in Unguwa Uku, Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano state. “How they get access to these things is more disturbing than the fact that they are taking it”, he lamented.
However, the commander NDLEA Kano mentioned that even with the numerous challenges they are facing which include lack of logistics, information and road network they have made seizure of over 1.2 million kilograms of illicit substances from 2016 to date. These substances include psychotropic, cocaine and heroin. He added that within two months the command has arrested 635 suspects dealing in illicit drugs. “I was told that Kano has a large market where I can gain easy access to youths, married women in their homes and secondary school students. That is why I chose to bring these drugs here to sell them fast and keep up with the business”, said one of the suspects, Aisha Ahmad.
She further said that this is her first time of coming to Kano state as she is originally from Katsina state. Another suspect by the name Sawun Giwa from Niger Republic said he started with a very small capital and “I sell to adults alone mostly between the ages of 30 and 60 but now I am going to stop and look for something better because the business has put me in lots of dangers”. Hafsah, a junior secondary school student who was part of the arrested drug abusers, pointed out that she never knew what it is until her elder step brother introduced her to it.
“Whenever he comes back home late at night he used to wake me up to serve him his food and I would complain, that was when he started giving me codeine to compensate me for interrupting my sleep. I am already used to it; I can’t even sleep now without taking it,” she said. The principal of the school, Hajiya Hadiza, said that this problem is not supposed to be left for the government alone but that parents, religious leaders, traditional rulers, teachers and neighbours should put heads together to bring an end to this menace. Mariam Bawa, Department of Mass Communication, Bayero University Kano