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By Lizzy Chirkpi
In a joint call to action, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and Professor Sadiq Abba, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, issued a passionate appeal to the Nigerian government to declare a national state of emergency on drug abuse among children and young people.
Speaking at the 2025 National Human Rights Lecture organized by HURIWA, with the theme “Keeping Nigerian Children Free from Hard Drugs: A Task for All,” both leaders painted a harrowing picture of a crisis spiraling out of control and urged stakeholders across all sectors to respond with urgency, sincerity, and concrete action.
The National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, described the situation as worse than an epidemic, citing global and local studies that reveal a surge in drug-related psychiatric disorders among Nigerian youth.
“Nigeria is grappling with an alarming drug crisis, with a United Nations report revealing that 14.4% of our population aged 15 to 64 abuse drugs, nearly triple the global average. Experts have warned since 2017 that unless urgent action is taken, we may be building a nation of drug addicts,” he said.
He cited a study in a Borstal institution in North-Central Nigeria where 82.5% of adolescent male residents were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, many stemming from substance abuse.
“There is no family now that is not affected,” said Onwubiko. “Our children are at risk as much as our husbands, wives, and relatives. It is actually more than an epidemic.”
Onwubiko praised the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) under Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd) for its commendable work but insisted it must be “granted more legal backing and adequate funding” to tackle the menace head-on. He revealed that HURIWA had developed a comic book for school children to educate them on the dangers of drugs, already distributed in the FCT.
“We want to distribute more across all states, but we need support,” he pleaded. “We wrote to the Dangote Foundation three months ago and are still waiting for a response. We also plan to launch a children’s cartoon programme based on the comic. We are calling on Nigerians to help.”
Delivering the keynote address, Professor Sadiq Abba didn’t mince words in diagnosing the national failure to address drug abuse as both systemic and deliberate.
“We have had decades of lamentations,” he said. “The question is not just how drugs enter our streets, but why licensed importers and producers are not monitored, and why there is no real accountability.”
Quoting sobering statistics including the widely reported 3 million bottles of codeine consumed daily in Kano and Jigawa States, Prof. Abba insisted that “every police DPO knows where these drugs are sold. The chemists are not spirits. The system is compromised.”
He cited the Philippines’ radical drug policy under President Rodrigo Duterte as a model Nigeria can learn from, albeit with democratic adaptations.
“Duterte summoned all police DPOs, then arrested them all for collusion with drug dealers. Within one week, drug circulation dropped by 79%,” Prof. Abba recounted. “That’s the kind of political will we lack in Nigeria.”
According to him, Nigeria’s drug crisis must be approached from all institutional fronts: family, schools, media, traditional and religious leaders, and especially civil society.
“The NDLEA is doing its best but is swimming against the tide,” he said. “What’s needed is not more rhetoric but enforceable frameworks backed by political commitment at all levels.”
Prof. Abba called for the establishment of a dedicated national budget line to fund media campaigns, school interventions, and parental training — modeled after successful initiatives in Japan, Malaysia, and Portugal.
“In Japan, parents are funded by the government to teach patriotism and value orientation. In Nigeria, parents abandon children in pursuit of breadwinning, and the children end up as victims,” he warned.
He concluded by urging civil society groups like HURIWA to lead a nationwide coalition of committed organizations to tackle the scourge and hold all stakeholders accountable.
Both speakers called for partnerships between government, NGOs, the private sector, schools, traditional institutions, and the media to reverse the trend before it becomes irreversible.
“Drug abuse must be seen not just as a law enforcement issue but a human rights emergency,” Onwubiko said. “Protecting Nigerian children from addiction is a constitutional duty.”
The event, attended by representatives of NDLEA, journalists, educators, and civil society activists, concluded with a resounding call to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to “declare a national state of emergency on drug abuse among Nigerian youths.”
Prof. Abba captured the urgency succinctly: “The extinction of Nigeria’s future is not a theory. It’s already happening. We must act now.”