COVID-19 worsening drug abuse among Nigerians – UNODC

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has said that the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the abuse of drugs among Nigerians, with a poll conducted by it showing that about 50 per cent of youths increased abuses during the lockdown.

The UNODC Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Oliver Stolpe, stated this at a webinar where he was a panelist and which was organised by the International Society of Substance Use Professionals.

The webinar was the first session of ISSUP Nigeria’s Knowledge Update Series which focused on experiences and challenges in delivering drug demand reduction interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The moderators were ISSUP National President, Dr Martin Agwogie, and ISSUP Nigeria Publicity Secretary, Dr Bawo James.

The UNODC Representative said, “Overall, our main approach at this stage has been to look at two things. One, how will COVID-19 impart on abuse in general? And secondly, how do we actually succeed in this COVID season? So, we are making sure that our initiatives and services can somehow continue despite all the limitations.

“This comes against the background of what we know very much that we have a very high drug abuse in Nigeria – about three times the global average. Things are likely to get worse. We conducted a poll with United Nations Children’s Fund among young people. We interviewed 90,000 young people and about 50 per cent of them said their drug abuse had increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Only 30 per cent said the abuse had reduced or remained the same. We all know the issues that we were grappling with even before the pandemic. Almost half of the drug abusers said they need counselling and assistance to deal with the drug abuses and they are not able to access that. It gets far worse for women.

“Even before the pandemic, only five per cent of the women get treatment as against the 25 per cent in total that abuses drugs. Something that is badly needed is that we don’t have a drug helpline in Nigeria and it is a critical element in the comprehensive strategy towards drug abuse.” Punch