- Admits drug abuse destroying Nigeria
BY EDMOND ODOK – Former Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Usman Yusuf, has described bandits currently tormenting the country and Nigerians as mainly child soldiers and drug addicts.
According to Yusuf, it is quite unfortunate that kids between the ages of 10 and 12 years have become bandits and terrorists who are completely hooked on hard drugs and primed to kill innocent people.
Additionally, he said it is regrettable that Nigeria was in more serious trouble than many people, including the authorities, can imagine due to the worrying drug menace and called for concerted efforts to tackle the looming danger.
Prof Yusuf was recounting the harrowing experiences while accompanying his bosom friend and renowned Islamic cleric, Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, deep into large forests across States in the North to engage six different bandits commanders, including the once-dreaded Bello Turji, touted to have killed thousands of innocent people and displaced others from their communities.
Speaking at the 4th Annual Peace Conference and General Assembly organised in Abuja by the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), Yusuf, who shared his observations in the forest with over 120 Muslim and Christian clerics at the event, said the bandits are mainly kids between the ages of 10-12 years who have completely become hooked to hard drugs, but reverence clerics so deeply as ‘Men of God’.
The Nigerian professor of haematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation said: “When we went into the forests, we met all these criminals; we met Turji, Dogo, and four other bandit commanders. In Zamfara where we started, banditry is the beginning of the cancer of the current insecurity.
“As we journeyed to see Turji, he was surrounded by a battalion of his recruits. They were all dressed in military fatigue but operated deep into the forests. We saw kid soldiers between the ages of 10 and 12 years. They have become bandits who are armed to the teeth, and are even killing each other.”
Yusuf, who exited the NHIS in controversial circumstances, further claimed thus; “When we went to the forest in Niger and other Northern states, deep into the forests, we saw with our eyes kids who were shooting under the influence of drugs. On the way into the forest in Niger, in one of the villages we passed through, I said we should stop over by one chemist shop. I went into the drugstore to check out what they sold.
“Behold, these are the drugs of choice for these bandits; codeine, tramadol, Pentazocine, intravenous drugs, Sudrex which is paracetamol and hydro-caffeine, Boska and marijuana. I found all these drugs in the little chemist shop in that village. The chemist shop owner is neither a local drug attendant nor a pharmacist.
“In the heart of the forests, I saw these kids shooting intravenous drugs and smoking marijuana. All the ransom they are paid they used to purchase drugs and to buy arms. Go across the border in the Niger republic, they buy arms worth hundreds of millions of Naira.
“When you see them, you will be forced to ask yourself where is the money (ransom)? They spend it on drugs and arms. Each of the six Warlords that met with us from across the states, their respective convoys consist of about 200-300 motorcycles carrying three persons on each one.”
Yusuf, who expressed concerns that most of the bandits they came across during their visits to the forests bore sophisticated weapons, said sadly the government does not seems to have the faintest idea of the mounting challenges facing the country on all fronts.
Specifically noting that drugs abuse is fueling the insecurity witnessed across the country, the ex-NHIS boss said; “I call on the NDLEA instead of staying only in the airport looking for cocaine that is going to America or Europe, it should work with the governors and make sure that no chemist is selling drugs like tramadol, pentazocine, and others.
“Drugs are fueling all the criminality in the society, not just banditry, but also Boko Haram, ISWAP, and IPOB/ESN. We are in more serious trouble than we think.”
Also hinting that Gumi’s entourage observed an ongoing battle of supremacy among the different bandits’ camps in the forests, Prof Yusuf said; “In the forests, more leaders of bandits have been killed by fellow bandits than by security agents,” adding; “We cannot pretend there’s no insecurity threatening this nation. We have been all over this country looking for solutions.”
He said that though there will always be a role for the military to play in tackling and defeating banditry in the country, a military solution to the problem alone cannot be the answer, adding that never in the history of warfare has conflicts like this been won on the battlefield.”
However, the professor of Medicine said that based on the bandits’ deep respect for the clergy, religious leaders should be mobilised and engaged to play vital roles in resolving the nagging insecurity in the land.
“Turji told us he would not have gathered for anybody if not for the clerics. They knew it was a cleric coming. We sat on the floor, surrounded by these kids who are high on drugs and heavily armed. So, the only way to take care of this problem is through clerics, because they respect clerics all over the country.
“Turji repeatedly told us he would not have gathered for any politician. I saw the power and how they listened to clerics. One of the kid soldiers touched me and said ‘What’s the name of this cleric beside me?’ I told him, ‘the man is Sheikh Abubakar Ahmad Gumi.’ The next time the boy touched me, he handed me N500 note to give to him (Gumi). – With Vanguard reports
