*Photo:Shakirudeen Bankole, Founder and Executive Director, Frontline Advocacy Initiative (FAI)*
The Frontline Advocacy Initiative (FAI) has urged Nigerian youths to resist the growing temptation to experiment with illicit substances and hard drugs.
FAI warned while it may seem fashionable among the young people, what begins as curiosity or recreation can gradually become dependence and destroy lives.
The Founder and Executive Director of FAI, Shakirudeen Bankole, made the call in his International Youth Day message, drawing attention to the growing consequences of substance abuse among young people, particularly in Nigeria’s metropolitan communities.
Bankole, a development communications expert whose professional experience cuts across journalism, development advocacy, peacebuilding, humanitarian services, grassroots mobilisation and community development, said his concern was informed by what he encounters regularly in the communities where he works.
“As the President of the Alimosho Youth Development Association of Nigeria (AYDAN),for instance, in my routine commune across the large local government area of Lagos State, I encounter, on a daily basis, the brutal consequences of illicit substance use and drug abuse.
“I see many young lives waste away, irretrievably. I see how the drug culture contributes to aggression, crime and increased vulnerability to health problems. We cannot continue like this,” he said.
Bankole said that substances commonly abused by young Nigerians include cannabis, tramadol and other opioids, codeine based mixtures, cough syrups containing psychoactive substances, cocaine, methamphetamine and substances sold as ecstasy or MDMA.
The NDLEA itself lists cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, cough syrup with codeine, heroin, morphine, amphetamine and other substances among commonly abused drugs in Nigeria.
According to Bankole, the danger goes beyond the immediate feeling produced by these substances. Their psychoactive components interfere with brain systems involved in reward, motivation, mood, judgement and behaviour.
He cautioned young people against the assumption that they could experiment and simply stop whenever they wanted.
“You do not have to plan to become addicted before dependence can begin. The statement that ‘I will only try it once’ is not a guarantee. Some drugs can produce unusually powerful reward signals in the brain, reinforcing the behaviour and making repeated use increasingly difficult to control,” he said.
While raising alarm over the infiltration of the nooks and crannies of the communities by drug peddlers and sellers, Bankole also expressed concern about the capacity of Nigeria’s treatment system to respond to the problem.
For indtsnce, the NDLEA currently reports 31 rehabilitation centres across the country and has announced plans to establish additional facilities. Meanwhile, the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria has reported that fewer than 200 psychiatrists are available to attend to the mental health needs of more than 200 million Nigerians.
He therefore called on the Federal Government and state governments to urgently expand rehabilitation and addiction treatment centres, particularly in densely populated cities and communities where young people are most exposed to substance abuse.
FAI also called for special government grants, scholarships and structured training opportunities for Nigerians seeking careers in Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry and other recognised therapeutic professions.
Bankole further urged the government to introduce retention and professional development incentives for mental health professionals and students entering these fields, warning that Nigeria cannot afford to continue losing scarce specialists to migration.
“Prevention is important, but prevention without treatment is not enough. We need more rehabilitation centres, more psychologists, more psychiatrists and more trained therapists. We also need to give young Nigerians who want to enter these professions the support to study and the incentive to remain here after training,” he said.
He urged parents, schools, religious institutions, community leaders, civil society organisations and government agencies to make drug prevention a sustained community responsibility.
“To our young people, I say this: your future is worth more than a temporary high. Do not allow peer pressure, frustration or curiosity to take away the years ahead of you. Let us turn a new leaf,” he said.