OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

 Chuks Akamadu writes to extract commitment on how the candidates will tackle the twin scourge of drug abuse and illicit trafficking

Respectfully Sirs, I wish to commend you all for the incredible energy and resources each of you is expending on selling your candidacy to the electorate. But for personal attacks some of you and your aides hurl at opponents, it would have been both factual and safe to say that it’s been an exciting moment.

I am particularly impressed by the way the media, traditional and new, have been putting you to task in order to ascertain your suitability for the job you seek. So, in the process, you have had to share your thoughts and plans – some written, some spoken – on some critical national concerns including, but certainly not limited to, economy, insecurity, restructuring, subsidy on petroleum products, corruption, etc.  

Regrettably, I have observed that none of you has so far made a definite commitment to sustaining the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) in the event he emerges victorious at the February 25th presidential election. This, in my view, is nothing to cheer about and indeed could potentially hurt the unrelenting efforts of National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA), her collaborators and a broad spectrum of stakeholders.

I am frightened by the level of ignorance you have displayed in relation to this worsening emergency on our hands! You all seem to be separated from the grim reality staring us in the face as a nation. By the way, how many of you know that, according to UNODC World Drug Report 2022, the hundreds of millions of persons that abused drugs from 2000 to 2010 increased by 26% in the following decade (2010-2020)? On the home front, shouldn’t we be disturbed that 29.4 million Nigerians – or more, aged between 15 and 64 years, are firmly in the vice grip of drug abuse? Pray, do you, as presidential contenders, care?

Same UNODC Report under reference reveals that “young people are using more drugs, with use levels today in many countries higher than with the previous generation”, just as it raised the alarm that “women remain in the minority of drug users globally yet tend to increase their rate of drug consumption and progress to drug use disorders more rapidly than men do”. Perhaps rather more depressing is the fact that amid all these, drug abuse prevalence in Nigeria is said to be thrice that of the world average. This is where we find ourselves in, yet Nigeria’s 18 presidential candidates fail to recognize the war against drug abuse and illicit trafficking as a national priority! Or how else can one explain the palpable indifference?

Worse still, none of you, with due respect, seem to be knowledgeable, at least going by your public utterances, about the nexus between drug abuse and the insecurity in our land. How then can you successfully quell insecurity and violent crimes with such lethal ignorance? This obviously leaves much to be desired.

I have in the past had occasion to call out National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) and National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) over the conspiratorial roles they play with deviant Nigerian artistes who litter our electronic media space with drug abuse-promoting content. These our entertainers do this with crude impunity and, curiously, go unpunished. Why? Simply because the institutions that are charged with the responsibility of forestalling and/or sanctioning breaches look the other way – while the society continues to suffer helplessly.       

My highly esteemed candidates, I ask: do you endorse the status quo? And rather more importantly, if (or since) you are not sufficiently acquainted with the prevailing state of affairs, how would you then be able to respond decisively to emergent issues that border on drug abuse and illicit trafficking?

As I write, the nation is full of praises for NDLEA – and for the right reasons, too. The Agency under the watch of retired Brig-Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa has, in the past two years, done tremendously well. The figures out there bear eloquent testament. The seizures, arrests, forfeitures, prosecutions and convictions very well justify all the accolades being heaped on it.

For the records, one stand-alone accomplishment the Agency has to its credit is the formal launch of the National Drug Control Masterplan (2021-25); and that document deserves every proactive safeguard against possible reversal or loss of ground of any sorts. It is for this reason that I reckon that each and every one of you should, as a matter of national interest, make a definite commitment to the sustenance of the raging onslaught against the twin scourge of drug abuse and illicit trafficking. This should be an inviolable desideratum in the eyes of voters.

This has become necessary in order to extract guarantees from the potential heads of post-Buhari administration, as well as place the right premium on the painstaking efforts and resources of the distinguished assemblage of stakeholders that produced the Masterplan. At this juncture, I would like to specially thank the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) for their unflinching support to Nigeria in our resolve to rid our nation of the hydra-headed monster called drug abuse and illicit trafficking. Your labour of love shall not be in vain!

However, as beautiful as the Masterplan is and as impressive as the NDLEA scorecard is, a diligent observer would have noticed that the bulk of the successes recorded by NDLEA so far are in the domain of drug supply reduction (DSR) which borders on possession, in commercial quantity, of narcotic and illicit substances on the one hand and the trafficking and largescale sale of same, on the other hand.

It is evident that NDLEA has not been able to replicate same feat in the drug demand reduction (DDR) sector of the battle, on account of obvious limitations that range from legal to financial – and more. There are also challenges in the areas of operations, personnel and logistics. Should we revisit the NDLEA Act for greater outcomes? Or do we now have a need for a constitutional amendment that would relocate drug matters from the exclusive list to the concurrent list? Again, how much of these issues do you know? And how do you intend to tackle them in the event of an electoral triumph on February 25^th and eventual swearing-in on May 29^th?   

My dear presidential candidates, Nigerians – particularly the youth – are eagerly waiting for your thoughts, ideas and plans with respect to how best to retrieve the future of our dear nation from the satanic claws of drug abuse and illicit trafficking and return it to the glorious path of sustainable development. You either speak now or risk losing our votes on February 25, 2023.

 Akamadu, M.IoD is

President, Centre for Ethical Rebirth Among Nigerian Youths