‘I Could Have Been A Drug Addict’ – Olusegun Obasanjo Addresses Nigerian Youths As He Speaks On The Catastrophic Effects Of Drug Abuse And Addiction 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that an attempt to embrace psychoactive drugs as a young man could have led him down a destructive path, stating, he could have become addicted to it by now.

Obasanjo made the disclosure on Sunday during the Fly Above The High anti-drug campaign conference held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Highlighting the growing problem of drug abuse in Nigeria and West Africa, Obasanjo called for restraint among young people.

He appealed to Nigerian youths and students to avoid the use and abuse of drugs, emphasizing that such substances offer no value to life but instead cause immense destruction.

The former president also shared a personal anecdote about an early attempt to take up smoking, which led to severe coughing and deterred him from continuing.

“If I had persisted, I could have become addicted. Once you get involved, it is difficult to get out,”

he said, warning the gathering of youths, students, mental health specialists, and policymakers.

“There’s nothing drug can do for you except destruction,”

Obasanjo declared.

Obasanjo lamented the havoc drugs cause in the lives of the youths, declaring that addiction to hard drugs is a form of a self-inflicted disease that is curable only when the victim speaks out.

With particular mention of those already into drug addiction but do not know how to quit, Obasanjo charged such African youths to speak out, stressing that failure to seek help would only lead them to an untimely death.

He stated:

“If you have made the mistake of getting addicted through anyone, the answer is ‘don’t hide, seek help, and if you make efforts, you can get out of it.

“Some diseases cannot be cured but could be managed. I have been living with diabetes for over 40 years, and I am still here by the grace of God. I watch what I eat; I stick to my doctor’s advice. So, people with addiction should not hide it; they should seek help before it is too late.”

SEE ALSO: NDLEA Educates Parents On Ways To Spot Drug Abuse In Children

He also spoke on the troubling rise of drug abuse in West Africa, a problem he said he encountered firsthand as Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the Kofi Annan Foundation.

Obasanjo stated that members of the commission crisscrossed West Africa with the belief that the region was free from drugs, which he said came mainly from Latin America and go to North America and Europe.

He further stated:

“While serving as the Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation, we were nine on the commission, and we went around West Africa with the belief that we were free from drugs which come mainly from Latin America and go to North America and Europe.

I talk about drugs with a sense of sobriety. As the Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the Kofi Annan Foundation, I learned that West Africa is not just a transit point for drugs but has also become a centre of consumption

But to our dismay, displeasure, and pain, at the end of the exercise, we found out that West Africa has equally been a centre for drug consumption in a very bad way.

That was more than 10 years ago, so the situation has since gone worse. And whatever applies to West Africa applies to all other parts of Africa.”

ALSO SEE: Experts Share Ways To Handle A Child With Substance Abuse

The former President called on the people to support those who have gone into drugs and are willing to come out of it, adding that saying a word of prayer for them as well could prove to be the turning point.

Obasanjo, however, advocated against the societal stigmatisation of those who have already been addicted to drugs, saying,

“I don’t believe that any disease should be seen as a stigma. I do not believe that there is every human being that is 100 per cent healthy. Some diseases cannot be cured, they can only be managed”.

Speaking in an interview, an ex-drug addict, Dr Abubakar Salami, who is a drug survivor and Vice President of Recovery Advocacy Network, recounted the experience of his addiction and eventual liberation, saying with only love and mentorship, “We can bring these addicts out of that dark place”.

“The first point is to know and acknowledge that you have a problem; agreeing that being into drugs is a sickness. Once you have identified an ailment, you can seek help through the rehabilitation centre or through spiritual means of praying and fasting to overcome it.

“However, it is not too good for society to stigmatise them at all because such drives them further into addiction. When society says that person is wrong, he accepts that he is terrible, and that is it. Therefore, we need to learn not to stigmatise but to help these victims.

“There are two things that changed mine: love and prayers. With love and mentorship, we can bring these addicts out of that dark place.

“Many people are lost in that place but don’t know there is a way out. Some people have given up on trying to get out, so we are saying there is a way out if you desire one without going to the rehabilitation centre.

“By yourself, you can get out of that dark place; just understand how and how to avoid things that trigger you into going to it.

Also, in another interview, the President of the Recovery Advocacy Network, Dr Kunle Adesina, called for robust legislation to curb the menace of drug availability in the country. At the same time, everyone must also take ownership of the fight against drug abuse.

“My call to the government would be that at a primordial level of prevention, there’s a need for strong legislation against substance abuse because these substances are not supposed to be available; the availability is much in our environment, and the government needs to legislate to reduce this drug demand in our society.

And the government should make sure that those legislations are implemented.”

In 2023, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency reported that approximately 14.3 million Nigerians are involved in drug abuse.

The agency said 14.3 million Nigerian drug abusers are within the age range of 15 and 64 years, adding that more women are now involved.