Leading education and child health experts have backed the Federal Government’s introduction of mandatory drug testing for secondary school students in Nigeria, describing it as a wise and necessary policy to tackle the growing problem of drug and substance abuse among adolescents in the country.
The seasoned experts said Nigeria could no longer afford to live in denial about the scale of substance abuse among secondary school students, warning that without urgent and coordinated action, the country’s future was in jeopardy.
The experts exclusively told PUNCH Healthwise that adolescents were at the stage where they try to explore things, stating that this makes drug dealers actively target them with no signs of slowing down.
They stressed that while mandatory testing was a strong starting point, it needed the involvement of all stakeholders, including parents, faith-based organisations and civil society groups, to address the problem.
PUNCH Healthwise recently reported that the Federal Government introduced a new policy that mandated all newly admitted students in secondary schools to be subjected to compulsory drug integrity tests at the point of entry.
The policy, which is a measure to combat drug and substance abuse in secondary schools, included mandatory drug testing for students and temporary suspension for those who repeatedly test positive after undergoing treatment and rehabilitation procedures.
The new policy is contained in the National Implementation Guidelines Against Drug and Substance Use in Schools in Nigeria for secondary schools and outlines a comprehensive framework aimed at reducing the growing prevalence of substance abuse among students and creating safer learning environments across schools nationwide.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2018 report, the prevalence of any drug use in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 per cent or 14.3 million people aged between 15 and 64 years.
A study titled “The Burden of Drug Abuse in Nigeria: A Scoping Review of Epidemiological Studies and Drug Laws,” by Abubakar Jatau et al, showed a prevalence of 20 to 40 per cent of drug abuse among students and 20.9 per cent among youths.
Stakeholders have stated that drug and substance use among adolescents in Nigeria is a significant public health problem that spreads across all regions in the country.
Peer pressure, easy accessibility, poverty, high-unemployment rate, parental neglect, parents using drugs, academic pressure and curiosity have been identified as factors contributing to substance and drug abuse.
Commenting on the matter, a former Minister of Education, Emeritus Professor Tunde Adeniran, said the country had reached a stage where urgent measures were needed to protect young people from drug abuse and safeguard the nation’s future.
“With the way things are going, I think it’s necessary. So, the country has reached that level,” he said.
The educationist described the proposed policy as a wise decision aimed at preventing further destruction among youths.
“It is a wise decision to help the future and guarantee the future against destruction,” Adeniran stated.
He emphasised that Nigeria already has a drug and substance abuse problem among secondary school students, and addressing it requires acknowledging the reality of the situation rather than denying it.
“We have a drug problem among secondary school students in the country, and one of the ways to tackle it is not to live in denial and not to pretend that we don’t have that problem. We have the problem, and the problem has to be solved,” he said.
The former minister added that tackling drug abuse among adolescents must involve a collective effort from all stakeholders.
“All the stakeholders will have to be involved. The parents, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, and all stakeholders will have to be mobilised. It will be a holistic thing. Not just a one-way. We have to tackle it,” he stated.
Adeniran further stressed that the issue should be treated as a national emergency because of its implications for the country’s future.
“This is one of the issues that the nation must treat as an emergency. Otherwise, the future is in jeopardy,” he warned.
He noted that mandatory drug testing could serve as a good starting point in addressing the root causes of drug abuse among students.
“Yes. That’s a good way to start,” he said.
Also speaking, a leading Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Lagos, Prof. Edamisan Temiye, said adolescents were particularly vulnerable to substance abuse because of their tendency to experiment.
The paediatrician explained that drug abuse often begins during adolescence, especially at the secondary school level.
“Of course, this starts from secondary school, and you know why it starts from there? You know adolescents want to try out anything, it is in their nature, and one needs to put control on it,” Temiye stated.
The paediatrician further noted that measures must be put in place to control substance use among adolescents, stressing that, “Those who have converted it (selling of substance) into business and destroying young people’s lives are not relenting,” he said.
Temiye called for closer monitoring and protection of adolescents to prevent them from falling into harmful influences.
“We need to put a control on it, to monitor our adolescents and make sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands,” he added.
