- During the plenary on Tuesday, Senator Hussaini Babangida Uba (representing Jigawa North West) sponsored a motion titled “Urgent Need To Address The Menace Of Drug Abuse In Nigeria”
Concerned about the widespread issue of drug abuse within the country, the Nigerian Senate has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency to combat this problem.
During the plenary on Tuesday, Senator Hussaini Babangida Uba (representing Jigawa North West) sponsored a motion titled “Urgent Need To Address The Menace Of Drug Abuse In Nigeria.”
In response, the Senate not only urged the declaration of a state of emergency but also mandated its Committees on Drugs and Narcotics to collaborate with relevant agencies like NAFDAC and NDLEA to organize a National Summit or Conference aimed at addressing this pressing issue.
Senator Babangida expressed his concern over the pervasive illicit drug addiction within Nigerian society, emphasizing that even individuals as young as 15 years old are now deeply entrenched in narcotic drug usage.
“According to a report by the United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime And the European Union On Drugs use in Nigeria, about 14.3million Nigerians between the age of 15 and 64 are drug abusers; 10.6 million addicts were cannabis users, 4.6 addicts used pharmaceutical opioids and 238 thousand drug abusers used amphetamines” he said.
He expressed concerns that the tragic phenomenon now affects all strata and demographic groups of our Nigeria society, hence the need for governments at all levels and the family unit work closely to combat this menace.
He warned that failure to destroy narcotic drug addiction as a country, will destroy Nigeria.
“Nigeria is currently facing a rise in drug abuse which has reached an unprecedented level transforming from a mere transit route in the 1990s, into a country filled with drug abusers and drug traffickers all over its land space.
A significant number of deaths from accidents and violent crimes have been traced to the activities of persons under the influence of drugs especially the discovery of more dangerous substances called “Kurfürstendamm” in the North And “Umkpromiri” in the South.
The prevalence of drug abuse in Nigeria is a public health challenge which seems to be on the increase despite intervention by the international, regional, federal and state bodies through laws, policies and technical support,” he said.
Contributing to the motion, all the lawmakers that spoke agreed that the consequences of drug abuse will continue to endanger national development, public safety and family system if urgent action is not taken to strengthen the exciting legal, policy and institutional frameworks to face the the challenges with all these responsibility.
They also wanted the National University Commission, NUC, to make inclusion of special drug education as a compulsory course in the general studies programme.
The Lawmakers also directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, to review the Nigerian Curriculum for basic and secondary education to include special drug education as a compulsory subject in schools.
In his remarks, the President of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio urged the Senate Committees on Drugs and Narcotics to liaise with relevance Agencies like NAFDAC, NDLEA to convoke a National Summit or Conference to address the problem.
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