The Senator representing Bayelsa
East in the National Assembly, Ben Murray-Bruce, has decried the alarming state
of drug abuse among Nigerian youths.
Speaking during plenary at the
floor of the Senate, Murray-Bruce said drug abuse had eaten deep into Nigerian
society, including the homes of the majority of Nigerian lawmakers.
“This is a very serious issue and
I am sure my colleagues here when they were in school may have had classmates
who were on drugs. When I was in high school, a few of my classmates were on
drugs.
“I urge my colleagues to go home
and pay attention to your children. You may be shocked that somebody in your
household is on drugs. Always happy, always smiling and you have no idea why
that child is smiling because that child is on drugs.”
The lawmaker said the issue of
drug abuse was extremely serious as those drugs were easily accessible to
Nigerian youths, both the poor and rich who relied on it to be happy.
“There are reasons why people get
on drugs. The rich kids get on designer drugs because it makes them high and
happy. Poor kids get on drugs because there is a level of hopelessness in their
lives and when the drug makes them high it gives them relief.
“When we talk about
rehabilitation, it is important we understand why people get on drugs first.
Then we figure out a way to solve the problem. If we have 60 million Nigerians
unemployed, 11 million kids out of school, 6 million people who just lost their
jobs in the last two years, it is not surprising that lots of people are on
drugs,” he said.
Bruce added that this serious
issue was not limited to Northern Nigeria as some people wrongly believed but
it was a general issue affecting Nigerian youths and it must be handled with a
focus on the core of the problem.
“This is a serious problem and it
must be addressed in a manner that deals with the cores of the problem. They
say it’s in Northern Nigeria but it is all over Nigeria.
“It is a serious problem as the
drugs are purchased readily available. I urge my colleagues to go home, there
is no way 109 of my colleagues will go home and not find somebody in their
household who is on drugs. I urge this Senate to take this very seriously,” he
said.
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