Senate probes codeine abuse in Northern Nigeria

The Senate on Tuesday lamented the rising spate of drug abuse in Nigeria and asked its Joint Committee on Drugs and Narcotics; and Health to investigate the growing menace of codeine and other prescriptive drugs abuse in the country.

The move followed the adoption of a motion moved by Senator Baba Garbai (Borno-Central) at the plenary, titled ‘The Need to Check the Rising Menace of Pharmaceutical Drugs Abuse among Youths Especially in Northern Nigeria.’

Part of the prayers of the motion granted by the lawmakers was to mandate the Senate committee to carry out the investigation and “report back to the Senate on the needed legislative interventions to combat this trend.”

The lawmakers also “urge the Federal Government to partner relevant stakeholders, traditional rulers, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, and non-governmental organisations to create a holistic framework in fighting this category of drug abuse, especially in northern Nigeria.”

The upper chamber of the National Assembly also urged the National Food and Drug Administration and Control “to embark on a vigorous sensitisation campaign on the dangers of drug abuse and steps on achieving a successful rehabilitation for people with the addiction,” while calling for the establishment of rehabilitation centres across the country.

Garbai, in the motion, said the Senate noted the alarming rate of drug abuse plaguing the teeming population of youths in northern Nigeria.

“The Senate is worried that pharmaceutical drug abuse is threatening a generation of northern Nigerian women, including young girls in tertiary institutions, working class ladies, married women, unemployed women, displaced women from the Boko Haram insurgency, etc,” he said.

The senator added, “The Senate regrets that while drug abuse, especially cannabis and cocaine, has been a long-time problem among northern male youths, codeine cough syrup and other prescriptive drugs have become, as termed, ‘the new cancer ravaging women and girls in the North.”

“It notes that according to the NDLEA, North-West Nigeria has consistently had the highest number of drug-related arrests in recent years, with 2,205 arrests in 2015.”

Garbai noted that research had showed that Kano and Jigawa states consume more than three million bottles of codeine syrup daily, as abusers take up to three to eight bottles daily.

He said while the abuse of prescriptive drugs such as cough syrups had been thought to be a problem typical in the north-western part of the country, investigations had showed “an incredible spike in drug-abuse in Borno State and the North-East ravaged by Boko Haram.”

The lawmaker said, “The Senate is worried that the increasing abuse of cough and prescriptive drugs among the youth and women across the 19 northern states in the country has resulted in meaningless deaths, rendered them largely unproductive and has devastated many upper and middle-class families in northern Nigeria.

“It is aware of several reports about young girls in tertiary institutions in northern Nigeria who have taken to an alarming abuse of the codeine cough syrup, which is often taken mixed with a soft drink.

“It is also aware that this problem is destroying even the mothers in homes, as they use same codeine and other drugs as an escape from their abusive relationships and invariably get hooked on them.

“The Senate is disturbed that the abuse of cough syrup has become so widespread in recent years, that even secondary school students use them regularly.”

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, thanked Garbai for the motion and its prayers.