Busuyi Mekusi

As the economic noose gets tightened by the day across the world, inclusive of Nigeria, people are more on the edge, with desperation driving people that could transgress borders to initiate a journey up northern equator, not sure of whether they would attain their full potential, but certain that the new home would be a haven, clearly better than the limiting space they have escaped from. With abundant narratives already encasing the different experiences of Japa, the social media is an enabling platform for escapees to engage in unwarranted conversations with those still locked up in the challenging Nigeria space.

The creative industry would definitely be enriched with novel realities that are products of newer socio-economic dealings, within and without filial relations. One could not but curiously wait for the huge impacts the returns of Nigerians who have emigrated heavily to new borrowed or adopted homes oversees would engender. May our darling citizens who are committed to breathing a new lease of life not suffer dislocation like Dawid in Arthur Fugard’s Sorrows and Rejoicings, both in their exit and return journeys.

The camel going through the eyes of the needle parable by Jesus Christ applies so potently to how difficult it is for Christians, Muslims and traditional worshippers in Nigeria to enter heaven, make Aljanah or end up with Eledumare, given the challenging disqualifying conditions prevalent in the country. Things are so bad that people that seek to do what is right are; provoked out of reasonableness, made to violate regulations, inadvertently or forced to compromise their values by desperation that is induced by capitalist dispossession and oppression. By so doing, the paradox of Fela Anikulapo’s ‘Suffer-Suffer for World, Enjoy for Heaven’ will yet remain a painful reminder that the suffering on this side of the divide would deny one access to the glamorously-painted world on the other side. For the latter possibility, it is also a case of Anikulapo’s ‘Double Wahala for Deady Body’!

Drugs are, basically, substances used to; treat illnesses, relieve a biological symptom or modify a chemical process in the body. However, they are also considered to be psychoactive substances that are illegal and addictive, which are ingested for recreational use. Drugs categorisation include methamphetamine, one of amphetamine family, Ecstasy, Heroin, Cocaine, Cannabis, which are used as sedative, stimulant, hallucinogenic drugs. The dangers that the abuse of drugs cause to the personal body of the addict include: nausea, confusion, hallucination, social disorientation, paranoia, increased blood pressure and heart rate, loss of appetite, depression, liver and kidney damage.

Drug abuse relational challenges in Nigeria include rape, violent crimes, prostitution, kidnapping, ritual killing and different deviant behaviours. It is no longer news today that the Nigerian socio-economic and physical spaces have been reduced to a theatre of contestations and wars, as the avowed wise get dragged into the maddening crowd of fools. In our religiosity, the nation has been turned by some citizens to that of lawlessness and hopelessness.

With almost accurate indices detailing the abuse of drugs in western nations, developing countries have been held in the grip of reckless extrapolation and guessing, with the seemingly revulsion towards accurate data undermining the necessity to account for the large gamut of youths that fall into the dangerous bracket of drug abuse. Unemployment and poverty are heinous twins dealing deadly blows on the productive demography of Nigeria. These people are now more of iron pickers, motor-park touts and political thugs. Intake of hard drugs is part of the warped socialisation made possible by the vulnerability of Nigerians to the forceful western orientation that simply supported congenital attributions. Incidentally, Nigeria cannot seize to be part of the embattled globe, but still on bended kneels before foreign exploiters that collaborated with internal saboteurs, to attain her economic enslavement.

The use of Cannabis enjoys liberalisation in some western countries, and there have been debates on the desirability of such in Nigeria, as against the illegal consumption and abuse of the brand that is considered to be highly potent and medicinal. Arakurin Akeredolu, the Governor of Ondo State, was very committed to pushing the possibility but for the uproars that it generated. The facts before us are whether we should commercialise the growth and usage of Cannabis, with due regulations in place, or we should continue to disapprove of the production and consumption, while the growers and consumers have a field day. Playing the ostrich is a standard practice that has robbed Nigerians of quality human and material assets. We are, no doubt, a people that wish and pray, forgetting that if wishes were horses, as it is often said, the beggar would ride.

The abrasive nature of moral decadence in Nigeria is stultifying law-abiding citizens, even as negative attributes, even in religious places, enjoy approval from the majority, leaving the justness of positive-minded individuals in the domain of anathema. However, it is desirable that Nigerians take a judicious note of the recent decision of the American rapper, Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., popularly known as Snoop Dogg, to quit smoking Cannabis.

Dogg had taken to his Instagram page to announce that he was taking that major decision that would alter his lifestyle, following consideration and conversation with his family. Known for his unpretentious attachment to Cannabis, Dogg also had a few business connections with the Cannabis business. The reverberating effects of Dogg’s new realisation and determination among his followers are deep, and may occasion some identifiable responses from some of them.

Similar professed rebirth was linked earlier in the year with a Nigerian sensation, and leader of the Malians, Afeez Adeshina, popularly known as Naira Marley, the Afrobeat artiste and controversial record label owner. The visit he made to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) was also construed by some Nigerians as signalling a collaboration deal between the controversial musician and the agency, who had copiously popularised and glamorised the use of Marijuana among his followers that are said to be over seven million. The NDLEA defended the engagement it had with the ‘born-again’ drug addict on the basis that the huge followership Marley enjoys would allow him easily spread anti-substance abuse messages among his followers. Whether people who recriminated against the aborted collaboration are right or wrong, it is evident that Marley and some of his associates like Zinoleesky and Mohbad were arrested by the NDLEA, shortly before the controversial death of Mohbad. Mohbad is a big loss that personifies every evil that drug abuse, bad association and warped lifestyle could mean!

Mentoring and modelling are central to human development, and we must note that they are better when positive than negative. No matter the tardiness that characterised the experimentation between NDLEA and Naira Marley, we must conscientiously pursue the imperative of appointing reliable ambassadors that would help in rescuing our youths from the dangers of substance and drug abuse. Drugs and substances would continue to be inevitable contents of medical science and pharmacology, and they would, therefore, be available for both good and bad uses.

It is expedient that more education and socialisation be emplaced to stop drug addiction and substance abuse, of even finished medications. This is as substances are deployed more for industrial activities, with conscious efforts made to substantially price them out of the reach of majority of abusers. Anti-narcotic agents should partner with more critical stakeholders, using community participation to catalyse state and national-based onslaughts against drug peddlers and substance conveyors. Science and technology should complementarily be used to neutralise illegal factories dispensing harmful substances, with international cooperation sought to mitigate the virulence of drug abuse. We are, nonetheless, scared that the liberty liberal democracy occasions would negate the severity exemplified in the attritions of conservative governments towards drug and substance abuse.

Nigerian youths should listen to the new resolution of Snoop Dogg, as the nation avoids unnecessary lamentation that must give way to new determination, which would save our tomorrow from the poisoned womb of today.

The ‘pressure’ that caused the monumental errors in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement of the Court of Appeal on the Kano State governorship dispute may end up exemplifying the various grievous errors that are committed by accredited agents manning Nigerian institutions, suggesting that justice and fairness are relative after all.