How Hospitality Business, Tertiary Institutions Aid Drug Abuse, Dealings In Osun

On Monday, June 26, being the Interna onal Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the Na onal Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), said drug abuse was on the increase and fast becoming a threat than an cipated among young people in Osun State.

YUSUF OKETOLA finds out what is responsible for the trend and why it is prevalent among the youths in this special report.

DRUG abuse has remained a major threat to the wellbeing of individual and society at large. The current prevalence of drug and substance abuse has plagued society, caused its members to lose self-consciousness and led to mental disorders, death, addic on and other hardship.

The World Health Organiza on (WHO) defines drug and substance abuse as the harmful use of psychoac ve substances such as alcohol and illicit drugs. WHO in its 2019 reports stated that more than 2.6 million people in the 10 to 24-year age bracket die yearly from drug and substance abuse.

In spite of the relevant laws prohibi ng drug abuse, many Nigerians, especially the youths, indulge in drugs and substances. Osun is not le out in the menace. A sizeable number of residents of the state are into drug abuse.

Findings by OSUN DEFENDER revealed that some certain factors are responsible for prevalence of the drug abuse. Among the factors are the increasing hospitality business in the state. The advent of night clubs, lounge and beer palours is major contributor to rising drug abuse cases. Also, the establishment of ter ary ins tu ons (both public and private) with large student popula on is part of the reasons why drug abuse is prevalent in the state.

Osun is one of the states in the South-West with highest numbers of Higher Ins tu ons, a factor contribu ng to the high usage of illicit drugs and substance by the youth popula on in the state.

Some of the commonly consumed drugs and substance are cannabis sa va, diazepam, tramadol, methamphetamine, rophynol, benazine, skushie, molly, codin, among others. The drug users, according to findings, are migra ng from consump on of cannabis sa va (Indian Hemp) to illicit foreign drugs. “Only the

•Motorcyclists, Drivers Serving As Middlemen Between Sellers, Buyers

•Osogbo, Ejigbo, Ilesa, Ede, Ikirun Major Blackspots - NDLEA

bike man, that’s all, it become very difficult to arrest the main dealers.

Osogbo, Ejigbo, Ilesa Ede, Ikirun Major Blackspots locals, the poor and lily-liver guys consume Indian hemp, the big guys take imported drugs, said Kenny, a socialite. But in spite of this, the cul va on of Indian hemp by some farmers in Osun remains an illegal booming business.

However, the NDLEA has iden fied some major towns in the state where drug dealings are on the high side.

Some of the places, according to NDLEA Commander are Oja-Oba and Old garage in Osogbo, Ikirun motor park, Ikirun, Ilesa, Ede, Ejigbo, Iragbiji among other major towns.

Inves ga ons by the medium revealed that about five years ago, there were just three notable night clubs and Lounge in Osogbo, where guys hangout to have fun. However, about 15 exis ng night clubs and lounge are currently exis ng in the state capital and 71 altogether across the state.

The figure excludes hotels opera ng clubs and lounge separately.

OSUN DEFENDER visited some of the night clubs in Osogbo, Ife, Ilesa and Ikire and observed the use of illicit drugs among young people between age 17- to 30 years. At the clubs, it is usually a field day for the drug users.

According to findings, there are also some hostels in Iree, Ife, Ilesa, Osogbo where students engage in consump on of illicit drugs.

It was gathered that some of the students are dealers of the drugs and substance. “Majority of the students don’t take Indian hemp, they take tablet and capsule”, said a student of Osun State University who claimed to be aware of drug abuse among some students at Oke-Baale area of Osogbo.

OSUN DEFENDER is aware of several raids on some hostels across the state where students engaged in illicit drug consump on.

Speaking on the prevalence of drug abuse in the state, the state Commander of NDLEA, Nnadi Chidi, confirmed that hospitality business and increasing number of ter ary ins tu ons are responsible for the menace.

This just as he stated that some drug users consider those taking Indian hemp as inferior to them because they take foreign drugs which are more po- tent.

Chidi said: “Lately, we realised that there are some certain dangerous drugs that are not here before in the last five years but they are now in circula on now. Osun has always been known for cul va on of cannabis sa va and even the cul va on is done by nonindigenes who come from outside to cul vate here because of the fer le land and forest reserves we have.

“They do their cul vaon here and take the drug out of the state. Over me, as they come here to culvate, the indigenes have started taking a clue from it. Although, they engage the indigenes for manual labour. The indigenes have also started learning the business and also venturing.

“The last destruc on we did at Owenna was owned by an indigene. The indigenes have started culva ng too to the level of resis ng those coming from outside by claiming owners of the land and collect money from them if they want to stay. That actually started and has become a norm now that they call it local cannabis, that’s the one that is cul vated here.

“Even on the street when you here local within the drug users, they mean our local cannabis. Most of the local users don’t even use it anymore. They now see you as inferior because you use the local cannabis. They prefer the one that come from Canada and other African countries like Ghana, they call it ‘Loud’, ‘Skunk’, ‘Colorado’.

“They prefer to take those one because they see them as more potent. Those ones are laced with other drugs to make it stronger and effec ve and the effec veness is more dangerous than our local cannabis. They have set our local ones aside and prefer to take loud.

“Before now, it was just the local cannabis that was within circula on here that people actually abused. Now, they have graduated to other stronger drugs”

Commercial Motorcyclists, Drivers As Middlemen Between Sellers, Buyer

Findings by OSUN DEFENDER revealed that commercial motorcyclists known as Okada riders and some drivers are the middle men between the dealers and consumers of the illicit drugs. For the imported drugs, the agent(s) of the dealer in Lagos usually take it to motor park and send them as message through the commercial driver to Osun. According to sources, some of the agents and dealers have permanent drivers they use to convey the drugs.

For interstate, the dealers circulate the drugs with the use of Okada riders and intracity vehicle operators who have been engaged for such business.

According to the NDLEA Commander, the drug dealers are very smart and skepcal to have direct contact in their dealings so as to not get caught.

He said: “The drug dealers are very smart. They don’t want to get directly or have direct contact in their dealings. They are always skep cal and afraid that we can set them up.

“What they do is to recruit Okada riders. There is an arrest we made a month ago, we had an intelligence that a certain cannabis is coming from Lagos. Our officers then intercepted the driver at Gbongan. The driver was shocked to see it was cannabis they packed for him when we opened the package.

“He said he was given N5,000 to deliver the message and he has the number of the person. From there, we did control delivery. That means the driver will pretend as if he’s going to deliver the message.

“When he got to Osogbo with our officers, he called the receiver of the message, but the receiver didn’t come, he sent a bike man.

“When the bike man came, we arrested him and upon further inves ga on, we found out he has been having same dealing with the drug dealers for long through his phone. Till now, we couldn’t get the main suspect.

“There are a lot of bike men like him in town because it is faster and it shield the main dealers. They are now like baron who stay behind the scene and other people play. If you arrest the

He said: “Most mes I directed my officers to do general dislodgement by going to the black spots and sludge the joint and pull the shan es down so as to let them relocate.

“We have a way of interrup ng the business so that they won’t get too comfortable and we always arrest some suspects with exhibits. Oja-Oba, Old garage, Osogbo have always been a major place and it is because of louts that hang around there and some of the drivers use some of these drugs too.

“Our officers, almost every week, raid motor parks at Ikirun, Iragbiji and two places in Ede. They just go there randomly to dislodged, arrest and to disperse them.

“Then, Ode-Omu and Ilesa; Ilesa right now is becoming a major issue. There was a me we went to Ilesa garage and they even resisted, Ife axis too even in Ila. Iwo and Ejigbo.

“In fact, one of the major drug dealers in the state is in Ejigbo, they call him Baraka. We have arrested him and he is currently facing a trial. You know something about the hotspots, whenever you arrest the leader, whoever that depu se him takes over. It’s like hierarchy.

“But for cul va on, we have always been arres ng suspects in Ikire, Apomu, Owenna and Ila. But somemes now, they have moved to neighboring states”.

The NDLEA Commander however admonished parents and guardian in the state to look a er their children and prevent them against the use of illicit drugs. He urged all stakeholders in Osun to join hand with the agency in the fight against drug abuse.

“One of the major drug dealers in the state is in Ejigbo, they call him Baraka. We have arrested him and he is currently facing a trial. You know something about the hotspots, whenever you arrest the leader, whoever that deputise him takes over. It’s like hierarchy”

Aregbesola Canvasses Liberalisation Of Nigeria’s Electoral Laws

Kazeem Badmus

•Wants INEC’s Voters’ Register Linked with NIN Database For Credible Elections

FORMER

Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf

Aregbesola, has canvassed for the liberalisaon of Nigeria’s Electoral Laws to ensure that it will no longer be mandatory for a party to have na onal spread in all states of the federa on before it can be registered to par cipate in elec ons.

Aregbesola made the call just as he urged the Independent Na onal Electoral Commission (INEC) to link its voters’ register with the database of Na onal Iden fica on Number (NIN) to forestall the challenges of credibility and transparency in Nigeria’s electoral process.

The former governor of Osun State spoke on Tuesday while presen ng lead paper tled “Towards Free, Fair and Credible Elec ons,” at the 7th Interna onal Conference of the Professional Sta s cians Society of Nigeria (PSSN), held at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State.

Aregbesola, according to a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr Sola Fasure, said space must be created to a reasonable extent to give people room to express their aspira ons.

He noted that although, there will be extreme, un- reasonable and unrealisable aspira ons, nevertheless, people should have expressions within reasonable limits.

The ex-minister said: “In Britain, a party founded in February 2015, Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) contested that year’s general elec on. Its sole manifesto was the legalisa on of cannabis. It had 6,885 votes across the country.

It contested the London Mayoral elec on on May 5, 2016 and finished ninth out of 12 candidates with 20,537 votes in the first round.

“There is also a Legalise Cannabis Australia founded in 1993 with the sole objecve of legalising cannabis for personal, medical and medicinal use. It has seven of its members elected across Australia.

“Though I’m not advoca ng for these ideologies and as bizarre as these may sound to us, the democra c importance of it is that the party represents the aspira ons and expecta ons of some people. There are a thousand and one other issues, including secession, expulsion of foreigners, aboli on of police and other law enforcement agencies on which par es are formed.

“This is the democra c essence. The space must be created to a reasonable extent to give people room for the expression of their aspira ons. Of course, there will be extreme, unreasonable and unrealisable aspira ons, nevertheless, they should have expressions within reasonable limits.

“The process of counting votes and colla on of results should be transparent and the rules should be followed, to eliminate anything that can detract from the integrity of the elec on. In many cases, the elec on will be smooth, but problems erupt during coun ng and colla on.

“We should avoid the cynical statement ascribed to Joseph Stalin that those who vote decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything.”

Speaking on linking INEC voters register with NIN database, the former minister said it will automa cally bring an end to the era of underage vo ng and mul ple registra ons.

The two-term governor of Osun noted that appropriate sta s cs were key to the entrenchment of ac- countability; the first step to achieving development.

He further stated; “I am sugges ng a more seamless registra on system that will be con nuous and terminates only few weeks before the elec on, to allow for compila on and prin ng of cards. This registra on should be synced with the Na onal Iden fica on Number (NIN).

“It will automa cally eliminate underage voters and the possibility of mulple registra ons. More importantly, people should be able to do the registra on online, on their own, just like most applica on processes we have today. They should only go to INEC office for biometric data capture and card collec on.

“The second factor in the electoral process is the delinea on of vo ng cons tuencies and polling units. This should be popula on-based. There is also always chaos on elec on day as voters will be running helter-skelter, trying to find their polling units. There should be a system of no fica on or personal checks to enable voters know the exact unit where they will be vo ng and avoid this confusion.

“Thirdly, it appears for most part that agents of the poli cal par es don’t know what to do on elecon day and at the polling units. INEC should endeavour to train them on what specific roles they will play in elec ons.

“Fourthly, the logiscs should be smooth and seamless. In many instances, vo ng officials will arrive late or without the materials or the machines may just start malfunconing. Elec ons should start and end on schedule. Many voters are eventually disenfranchised due to late commencement of vo ng.”