The project is a documentary on the prevalence of drug abuse in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. It was shot in different locations within the city-centre and produced between 2020 and 2021. It exposes the prevalence of drug abuse of all kinds ranging from Crack Cocaine, Marijuana, and some prescription drugs which are sold illegally to users on a daily basis in the streets of Abuja.
The need to provide sufficient evidence on the availability of such substances led our team to undertake covert operations aimed at bringing to light the prevalence of such abuses and provide information to institutions within the Federal capital territory that is charged with the responsibility of implementation and prevention of drug abuse.
Relevant Findings
1. It was very evident that illicit drugs are readily available and openly traded within the FCT.
2. Our studies indicate that drug use is very much more prevalent amongst the youth who start off using it as a recreation drug.
3. There is a serious absence of enforcement against drug sale and distribution within the FCT because if not all most of the state security services are complicit in drug use.
4. There is an escalation in the use of over the counter medication to produce highs for drug users.
5. There is a significant increase in the sale and distribution of illicit drugs showing that there is a corridor through which they come into the FCT.
Recommendations:
1. There has to be greater participation in education by Government Agencies more especially the National Orientation Agency using the various boys and girls clubs abound in various schools , institutions of higher learning.
2. There has to be more enforcement actions from the FCT authorities targeted at closing down the routes of drug trafficking into the FCT and Nigeria.
3. There has to be more resources diverted into making sure that more rehabilitation centers are built and functional so that we can manage the number of people who have become addicted as a result of prolonged drug use.
4. The FCT authorities more get money appropriated and budgeted towards the use of employing various strategies aimed at preventing drug use. There must be constant enforcement action targeted at drug dens and notorious distribution points so that we can descale and degrade them.
5. The FCT authorities would need to set up an inter- government agency that would include all parts to enable a cooperative action to be taken against the scourge of drug abuse and trafficking. This action must result in serious hail time and confiscation of properties identified as flowing from the profits of illicit drug use.
A National Association of Seadogs,
NAS Sahara Deck© (Abuja), 2021
