Illicit Drugs: Northern Groups Charge 19 Govs
BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has warned against nonchalance by the 19 Northern governors in tackling the menace of drugs abuse by youths in the region.
This is as the Coalition demand total closure of all open drug markets within Northern Nigeria following recent disturbing revelation by the Senate that over three million bottles of Codeine are consumed daily in Kano State alone.
The CNG said to demonstrate that the people’s welfare is their priority, the governors should ordered immediate closure of these illicit drug markets and also implement the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) contained in the 2nd Edition 2012 developed by the Federal Ministry of Health.
According to CNG, the guidelines, which exclude the Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWC), provide a distribution channel in consonance with the National Drug Policy and its implementation as empowered by the Constitution.
Spokesman of CNG, Abdul-azeez Suleiman said in Kaduna that; “It is also expected that all the states in northern Nigeria, should by now have commenced the establishment and strengthening of the state task force on counterfeit, fake drugs and unwholesome processed foods, revoking all land titles where drugs are being sold and reviewing the laws to provide stiff penalties for offenders.”
In a statement made available to newsmen at the weekend, CNG insisted that; “This should be followed up by the implementation of Health Insurance Scheme at all levels and making drugs available at the health centres in northern Nigeria to help eliminate nefarious activities.
“CNG is worried that months after it gave this as one of the conditions for the review of some aspects of the Kaduna Declaration, the infiltration of northern pharmaceutical markets with fake, sub-standard, adulterated and hard drugs by some wicked traders persists.”
It regretted that the existence of open drug markets, like Sabon Gari in Kano, provides a convenient outlet for the sales of illicit drugs; stolen drugs; and drugs banned internationally or donated to countries or procured by the government for citizens but stolen; citing the case of Azithromycin donated to Niger Republic.
The CNG also described as alarming reports that over four billion Naira worth of fake, sub-standard and illicit drugs open to abuse has been confiscated and destroyed by regulatory agencies in Kano within three years from April 2012 to April 2015, expressing worries that; “This is from only one state out of the 19 States in Northern Nigeria.”
Maintaining that sales of fake, sub-standard and prohibited drugs have serious health, political, economic and security implications for the region, the coalition said; “The security aspect is that having no control on the sector automatically translates to vulnerability as such; they are deliberately introduced to alter the state of mind of the northern youth to induce them to commit crimes and all sorts of anti-social vices.
“Socially, the drugs are also introduced strategically to destroy the social fabric of the northern society that can manifest only after a long time.
“Political, the drug abuse and supply of substandard drugs are used as political weapons to smear the north. The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency has placed Kano state, and by implication the north, as the first in terms of drug abuse in the country consecutively for several years while a World Health Organization research has pointed Kano as the location with the highest rate of fake anti-malarial drugs in Africa and by extension the world.
“Economically, while the north is the largest consumer of such products, its economic involvement is less than 5 per cent of the total market value, with the rest hijacked and monopolized by people from the other sections of the country,” the statement said.
