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By Vera Wisdom-Bassey
In Nigeria today, many are the problems faced by Nigerian youths and teenagers, especially the females. But one that is hardly reported or under-reported is the problem of substance abuse. Today the number of girls that are abusing alcohol and other dangerous substances is alarming, revealing the prevalent abuse of sachet drinks in the country.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) illicit drug use, alcohol, and tobacco are major global risk factors for disability and premature loss of life.
The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-General Buba Marwa has lamented the rising cases of drug abuse among Nigerian youths. He said a lot of young people who engage in the consumption of the illicit and dangerous drugs now add cannabis into cookies and brownies, pepper soup and drinks.
He added that NDLEA’s activities since January 2021 had further reinforced the fact that Nigeria is an important hub in the global illicit drug network, adding that the country was not only a transit pipeline but also a market. Marwa made the assertions in Lagos, while delivering a keynote paper at the Realnews Magazine’s 10th Anniversary Lecture and Hall of Fame Investiture, last year.
He spoke on the theme: “Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 General Elections.”
“Alarmingly, some of them started using the substance between ages 13 and 17, with the largest pool of users in their early 30s. “Still, our activities of the past 22 months in the NDLEA have given us further insights and we now know that aside from smoking, they use it for cookies and brownies, pepper soup and also infuse it in drinks,” Marwa said.
Noting that drug abuse had been on the rise globally and poses serious danger to the world, he said Nigeria in particular cannot afford to trivialise the menace in the light of the country’s illicit drug statistics.
The average age of substance use initiation is between 13 and 14 years old, he said.
The reporter visited some schools and spoke to some girls who consume these beverages with high alcoholic content packaged in sachets. The reporter also spoke to the women who sell these sachets drinks to the teenagers.
Shade, a 14-year-old girl, confessed that she started taking the sachets drinks when she was in JSS 2. The girl, who claimed she resides at Folashade near Power Line, Owode in Ogun State, said her mother sells the drinks and so, it has been easy for her to take them. When there is none in her mother’s stock, she said, she buys it from other sellers.
When asked why she takes them, she said the alcoholic beverages are just like other drinks, noting that they keep her warm. She said she sees nothing wrong in taking alcoholic beverages.
Two other teenagers, who intermittently drank from a sachet of alcoholic beverage while returning from school, said the drinks had no harmful effect on them. They said they derived pleasure from taking it, noting that since a sachet costs just N50, it was quite cheap.
“It’s just like any other drink that people take,” one of them told the reporter.
Also, at Ijesha area of Lagos, 15-year-old Ngozi, who was happily sipping from a sachet of alcoholic bitters, said she was feeling unwell, and that the alcoholic drink was made with herbs, adding that it would heal her of her ailment. When told of the health implications of the alcohol, she shrugged and said she had never experienced any negative feeling after consuming the drink.
The reporter also visited a number of public schools in Agege area of Lagos as well as in Yewa and Sango areas of Ogun State, where she discovered that various alcoholic drinks were being sold in sachets directly opposite many of the schools, which made it quite easy for the school children to buy the drinks during or after school hours.
some of the girls encountered by the reporter said they did not know what the drinks were for and that they were just taking them for the first time.
Women who sell sachet drinks
Helium, (not real name) is a 19-year-old lady. She told the reporter that she ventured into liquor business some years ago when she could not pass her school certificate examination at the second attempt. She said she started the business with N5000 after she was introduced to it by someone in her street around Folashade area of Owode Yewa, Ogun State. She described the business as lucrative.
She also informed that to attract more customers, she prepared Ponmo pepper soup along with the liquor business. She said she was making good money from the business. Indeed, many men were seen at her kiosk, drinking and having a swell time.
She sells spirits and gin in sachets, each going for N50 or N100, and most of her customers were teenage girls. Most of the traders on the streets also sell alcoholic drinks in sachets.
“These are the commonest commodities on the street today,” she informed. “Anyone who wants to start petty trading on the street starts with gin in sachets.”
Another seller, Mrs Olayinka Ojo, said she starts her business very early in the morning every day, adding that her customers keep coming till the wee hours of the day.
While the reporter chatted with the woman, one of her customers said he had consumed about sachets that day and could take even more.
There were different types of sachet liquor displayed on her shelf. When the reporter sought to know how much was required to start the business, she said from N5000 and above. She also explained that a sachet could cost as little as N20 or N50.
In the course of the chat, two teenagers came to buy two sachets, which they prised open and drank immediately. When asked why she was selling to teenagers, she responded: “I mostly sell to motorists, okada riders and passers-by. But at times, I sell to teenagers when they come because if I refuse to sell to them, they will buy from others. Besides, there is nothing wrong selling sachet gin of N20 to teenagers, especially now that the weather is not too friendly. Everyone needs some alcohol to keep the body warm.”
The same scenario played out at another scene close to Mrs Ojo’s kiosk where a young lady, who simply gave her name as Evelyn, was selling liquor. Covering her body with wrapper against the cold weather, this reporter was forced to buy a sachet of schnapps from her in order to gain her attention.
Another seller, Nnenna, had a large tray filled with assorted types of alcoholic drinks packaged in long sachets as well as small bottles of gin.
When asked who her customers were, and how many cartons she had sold thus far that morning – time was 7.34am – she said she had sold two cartons and had just opened the third. She also explained that her customers were mainly commercial transport drivers, tricycle (Keke Marwa) operators as well as Okada riders. As the reporter chatted with her, two young secondary school students on their way to school, both girls, bought three sachets. A few moments after, another student also requested for a sachet.
When the reporter reminded her that she never mentioned young school children as part of her clientele, and that it was wrong selling liquor to underage children, she flared up.
She said: “Some of these underage buying liquor are most times sent by adults. Besides, given the cold weather now, some of these children need gin to warm their bodies. Even if you feel that it is bad for children to take liquor, it is not my business to correct them if their parents cannot talk to them. I am to sell my goods to whoever shows interest. These small bottles and sachet drinks are the fastest selling products today. Both old and young buy them. So, a reasonable trader will stock them.
“As a single mother of four, this is what I do to sustain my family and it is not possible to send buyers away.”
The story was not different with Emmanuelle who was dozing off when this reporter visited her shop. She complained that she was tired, having been up since 4.30am so as to get to her shop early and not to lose her customers. She admitted that she was making good profit to feed her family. The woman whose entire stock was alcoholic drinks, said some of her clients were actually teenagers. But she said she was not sure whether such teenagers were usually sent by adults or if such teenagers consumed the drinks.
