WHY NIGERIANS MUST STAND UP FOR THE DRUG WAR

The drug scourge in Nigeria is no doubt at an epidemic level. Any contrary view is tantamount to living in denial. I have watched closely reports on the volume of illicit drugs seized and destroyed by Nigerians anti-narcotic agency, NDLEA, in the past 15 months and I’m amazed that there are still more in circulation.

This is why I wonder why some Nigerians sometimes criticise the arrest of some offenders, forgetting about the negative impacts of the activities of these people especially when they are celebrities, on their kids. 

Looking critically at the trend, one can clearly see that many Nigerians are gullible to false information shared mostly on social media. They jump to conclusions without ascertaining the authenticity of such information. Some drug dealers and users, especially those who are celebrities such as comedians, actors and singers, create an atmosphere that earns them citizens pity whenever they are involved in an encounter with security agencies. And pityingly, because of the influence they wield, their fans out of blind loyalty would hardly look at issues critically before responding. 

Nigerians need to know that most of these celebrities have an army of social media influencers in their service and as soon as they have an encounter with security operatives, the influencers are unleashed on social media and would resort to manipulating information as a means of buying public sympathy for their clients. 

Nobody is above the law, but these so-called celebrities seem to think otherwise. They hardly cooperate with security agencies, be it police, NDLEA, Immigrations or Customs. That has been the trend in the past few years. 

We have to face the hard truth. Drug abuse is destroying lives, mostly youths. Many kids at home have access to social media and are influenced by what they see. To safeguard our future, let’s cooperate with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency which is the lead agency in the fight against drug abuse. We owe a duty to protect the lives of our children, brothers and sisters than protecting the interest of others who play on our emotions with false information.

Sini Joseph, Yola, Adamawa State