Obasanjo Blows Hot, Says West Africa Has Become Centre Of Hard Drugs Consumption
Nigeria’s former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, over the weekend, disclosed that West Africa has become a centre of hard drug consumption and no longer a transit point.
He said this in his remarks at the second edition of ‘Fly Above The High’, an anti-drug campaign conference organised by Recovery Advocacy Network, in Abeokuta.
Obasanjo lamented the rate at which Nigerian youths engaged in the usage of hard drugs, advising them to abstain from it in order not to jeopardise their future.
He explained that the use and abuse of psychoactive drugs would rather destroy their future than add value to life.
The former president, who recalled his role as the Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the Kofi Annan Foundation, stated that members of the Commission and himself went around the West African countries with the belief that the region was free from drugs but discovered that the region is not just a transit point for drugs but a centre of consumption.
He, therefore, called for restraint among the youths, saying, “There is nothing drugs can do for you except destruction.”
“But to our dismay, displeasure, and pain, at the end of the exercise, we found out that West Africa has equally been a centre for drug consumption in a very bad way. That was more than 10 years ago, so the situation has since gone worse. And whatever applies to West Africa applies to all other parts of Africa,” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo equally recalled how he attempted to embrace smoking as a habit as a young man and was later confronted with a severe cough, which made him run away from it.
He said, “If I had persisted, I could have become addicted. Once you get involved, it is difficult to get out,” Obasanjo told the gathering of youths, students, mental health specialists, and policymakers. There’s nothing drugs can do for you except destruction.”
The Managing Director of Serenity Royale Hospital, Dr Kunle Adesina, on the sidelines of the program, said it has become necessary to address the issue of abuse of drugs with a focus on primordial and primary prevention levels by educating young people about the dangers of substance use before they start.
He revealed that about 14.3 million Nigerians, representing 14.3% of the population, have used a substance within the last six months, adding that one in five drug users is female.
Adesina said, “Addiction treatment is best approached through prevention. We must focus on primordial and primary prevention levels to educate young people about the dangers of substance use before they start.”
He called for strong legislation to reduce the availability of drugs, noting that the widespread accessibility of substances fuels the growing crisis.
A mental health specialist, Dr. Samuel Abah, said, “From our experience, we discovered that even those that are meant to control the substance are the ones involved.
“We must stand our ground that this thing is not helpful; it’s destructive. It’s not just a pleasure but a destructive pleasure.”
