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- Over 14m Nigerians are active drug abusers
- Stakeholders warn against looming dangers, want parents to educate their children
- We’ve made 14,519 arrests, seized 4,262,376.56 kg of drugs, obtained 2,424 convictions – NDLEA
By Cosmas Omegoh
Greater concerns are mounting over increasing use of illicit drugs by Nigerians – mostly the youth.
More and more Nigerians are getting awfully worried that loads of young people are increasingly taking illicit drugs and becoming addicted. They are aghast that addicts are getting destroyed without knowing and the society is getting worse for it.
At every turn for instance, some young people are seen heavily under the influence of illicit drugs.
At street corners, some sit or squat, hopelessly staring into space. Some are seen trudging down the road clearly in a world of their own, raving.
Characteristically, each one of them come out i unkempt; their senses gone – perhaps irretrievably. Living in such unbelievable situation, many are no longer aware they are a part of humanity all because they, at some point, elected to abuse illicit drugs unfazed about the consequences that were to follow.
As it stands, the social media space is bursting at the seams with hurting images of youths – male and female – gone bunkers for taking one or many of the drugs that are now the rave of the moment.
In a particular video, a young man clearly under the influence of hard drugs was seen on top of a building roof. He kept throwing himself on the sheet with such amazing thud, cheered on by a restless crowd of youths who got entertained endlessly.
In another, a lady in her late 20s perhaps, was seen tossing herself about like a coin until she fell into a putrid drainage channel. In it she began to swim as though she had found comfort. She was completely high on some illicit drugs.
The two scenarios mirror the sorry fates of young people who have chosen the irredeemable path of drug abuse and addiction in recent years.
NDLEA’s alarming drug abuse statistics
Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement and Administration (NDLEA), since its inception, has been fighting the scourge of drug abuse to the hilt in order to reduce the drug influx and minimise its production and consumption.
Under the command of Brig. Gen. Mohamad Buba Marwa (rtd), the agency has had its sight on the ball, arresting and prosecuting drug offenders and dismantling both local cultivation and infrastructure.
However, the harder the agency tries, the more daring drug lords and abusers become; statistics of drug abuse and consumption keep soaring to the skies.
According to statistics obtained from NDLEA’s Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, between January and September 2025, for instance, the agency made 14, 519 arrests, seized 4,262,376.56 kg of drugs, obtained 2,424 convictions, and counselled and rehabilitated a total of 7,580 drug addicts.
In addition, the agency had carried out advocacy in 3,258 schools across the country with a total of 1,274,279 students participating.
Records also show that NDLEA operatives destroyed a total of 538.8152 farms where cannabis weighing 1,347,038.03kg was planted.
More revelations from NDLEA
According to NDLEA, as of January 2025, an alarming 14.3 million Nigerians representing 14. er cent of the country’s population aged 15 to 64, are involved in drug abuse.
NDLEA said sadly, the figure exceeds the global average of 5.5 per cent.
The agency noted that that over 10 million of the country’s population are involved in smoking of cannabis locally called Igbo commonly purchased at street corners.
NDLEA note that unfortunately, one in every four drug users in the country is a woman. And what that means is that more and more women are getting involved in the abuse of illicit drugs.
Regional drug use
At a recent forum, Brig. Gen Marwa, while acknowledging the growing drug use in the country reportedly gave its regional spread.
Marwa noted that: “Like many other nations, Nigeria is grappling with the tragic consequences of drug abuse, particularly among its youth.
He remarked that the South-West and South-South regions lead in illicit drug use in country while the South-East, North-West, and North-Central follow.
He went to admit that Lagos State in the South West has the highest drug use data.
According to NDLEA data, the state – because of its cosmopolitan nature – has the highest drug addiction rate of 33 per cent from the 2018 drug use survey for people between the ages of 15 and 64. It also has the highest rate of cannabis use rate.
Just recently, a night club in the state allegedly audaciously advertised a drug party, prompting urgent action by the state authorities.
Even secondary school students are said to be actively involved in the drug menace.
According to NDLEA survey, 13.6 per cent of Lagos secondary students had tried drugs while 6.9 per cent admitted to being active users
The revelation was made during a recent NDLEA and the Federal Ministry of Education collaboration survey on youth drug use in the state.
Speaking at the forum, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services and chairperson of Lagos State Inter-Ministerial Drug Abuse Control Committee, Mrs Olawale Poluyi noted that “in Lagos State alone, a 2024 study conducted by the NDLEA and Federal Ministry of Education found that 13.6 per cent of secondary school students had experimented with drugs, with 6.9 per cent identified as current users.”
She lamented that “the figures represent not just statistics, but shattered lives and weakened communities.”
She remarked that “drug addiction is a growing public health crisis that demands science-driven, empathetic solutions, not punishment or stigmatisation.”
In the northern region, according to NDLEA, Kano State comes second in drug use. However, it is first in opioids use rate with 16 per cent.
Most abused drugs
Marwa had observed that “the most commonly abused substances (these days) include cannabis, followed by the non-medical use of opioids such as tramadol, codeine, and morphine, as well as cough syrups containing codeine or dextromethorphan.”
Sadly, some other drugs are readily available at street corners.
Some people had added that nowadays, some young persons inhale gases coming out from pit toilets – just to get high – sources they need not spend money on.
Trend disturbing, worrying
Reacting to the alarming trend of illicit drug use across the country, a veteran pharmacist and the immediate past president of Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) Dr Joel Adagadzu told our correspondent that “the issue is one that worries every Nigerian whether old or young as long as they have the sense of concern. Everyone is worried.
“To be honest with you, one does not know what is wrong with the young ones of nowadays.
“They cannot tell me that their reason for drug abuse bothers on hardship. Everyone is facing the same hardship. If they say it is peer pressure, I think the home upbringing must be questioned.
“In fact I know that bad upbringing is one of the reasons for what we are seeing while peer pressure is another. Then we have the availability of the substances so abused.
“The substances are freely available and they are very cheap while the regulatory control is a little bit weak. These are the issues. They are very disturbing. Every Nigerian is very much concerned.”
Dr Adagadzu lamented that in Kano where they were having their conference, illicit drug consumption is on the rise.
“There was a time Kano residents were consuming over 3million bottles of codeine alone. The youths were buying and drinking them like they drink mineral waters – young men and women, frustrated married ladies and young men who have no jobs to do.”
Dangers of illicit drugs
Adagadzu has asked drug abusers to perish the habit, warning that “it cannot have any good effect.
“If you go to my village you will see young people going about naked. Nobody cursed them; they cursed themselves by taking drugs.
“Initially they had this illusion that once they took it, they would be bold; they would be courageous. They would be able to do what they wanted. But unknown to them, that is an attraction to hell.
“As a pharmacist, I’m not happy with the development. Even the normal drugs we take have side effects, how much more the illicit drugs that interfere with the Central Nervous Systems and cause critical changes to the life of the abuser – sometimes irreversible changes.
“I cannot be happy seeing this development as a pharmacist.”
Lamenting the impact of drugs on the abuser, a community pharmacist and Fellow, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Damian Izuka acknowledged that “when people abuse drugs, their productivity is compromised. It has economic consequences; the abuser keeps spending money on what I call ‘stupid things.’
“From the social point of view, the abuser becomes a stranger to his society because whoever that is into such web has their behaviour skewed; their priorities are different from those of the ordinary persons. They are in bondage.”
He recognised the telling reality that drug menace had become a global question.
“I was in the UK weeks ago. And from where I was, I could perceive the smell of hemp. So the global approach to tackling the menace of drugs is far from what it was supposed to be.
“And I can tell that some of those who are supposed to enforce drug regulations with due respect, we are not too sure if they are not partakers themselves. That makes the fight against drugs at the end of the day look like a mirage.
Advice to young Nigerians doing drugs
Adagadzu regretted that the media would have been the best channel to advise the young people against drug use, but regretted that the users do not even pay attention.
“How many of them read the papers?” he asked.
“In the social media space, many of them prefer to read stupid things, bad content.”
Fight against drugs should start from home
For Adagadzu, “parents now need to stick out their necks to see where their children are all the time and what they are doing all the time.
“Parents should try to check their children’s bags all the time. Parents need to be awake to their responsibilities.
“If they don’t, the same children they are pampering will come back to haunt them. And that is the truth. We have seen how children are killing their parents and even messing up their property. So the parents should be up and doing to help the government fight this menace.”
Izuka on his part, cautioned that the fight against drugs must start from the home.
However, he regretted that “the family which ought to be the place to build up the children is now no longer there. Nobody impacts anything on them anymore. Everybody is out there looking for money. So when children go to school, it is their peers that socialise them. So parents have not done enough!
“Children should be meant to understand that drugs won’t take them anywhere.”
