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| Abayomi |
Realities have also dawned on pharmaceutical business moguls, cartels and their cohorts as the “show don end”. The Government has finally awoken from its slumber by placing a ban on codeine, while NAFDAC went ahead to close down the production lines of some of these accused pharmaceutical companies. The closedown was termed commendable by a minority and the vast majority through their twitter reactions heavily backlashed the agency for its insensitiveness in the action.
Among the various turns that this story has taken and the countless opinions of several writers and citizens, the keenest point that many people have sadly shied away from harping is how this abuse and the menace it has left the nation to battle with, has to be completely or maximally eradicated
It feels pitiable that citizens of this great country have prioritized blaming NAFDAC for the closedown of the production companies over reacting on better ways to mitigate the rise of the abuse of codeine. Many have trifled the most important point in this recent happening for the sake of expensive political victories and clampdown on the government of the day.
One thing we can’t emphasize enough is how the onus lies on us all to contribute our quota to ensuring a saner national clime, which is not exclusive of focusing more on how this menace can be completely eradicated. However, the largest burdens lie on the government to ensure that these debilitating state is quickly receded.
First thing first, the aftermath of this ban on codeine is what everyone must gaze their eagle eye on. The reality of the matter is that when bans like this are placed on certain commodities, it does not ultimately end the actions that warranted the ban. So for years, we have battled closely with the eradication of cannabis in Nigeria, which has led to its protracted ban, yet, it is a demon that the NDLEA is daily at war with. This is not to say that the ban is needless; but to show that it may not solely birth the needed efficiency in forestalling the substantial change. Issues of drug abuse first have to be traced to the foundational causes and why people, especially when it is a vast population, have resorted into abusing the drug. Then, a great consideration has to be linked to the addiction which is not something that can be merely overpowered by a ban.
In a quick presentation, to ensure this is not a problem–solution mismatch, one will realize that what the ban does is to take away the access to this product. This however does not depose the evidently ingrained addiction to the product. The law of economics does prove the existence of substitutes, and what we get to realize at the end of the day is that while the access to codeine is denied by the ban, people opt for other close substitutes of the product which will in turn give them the same optimality. The case may not be different in the ban on codeine. In the status quo, one obvious fact is that codeine is not the only abused substance. There are several others of these substances that are currently being abused by their users, including one I heard of last year, gum, and one can only wait to hear of what these other substances also have in great repercussion.
Truthfully, the ban on codeine is a commendable one by the Government, at least for the fact that the Government has finally awoken to its responsibilities, but the Government has to do more, if eradicating substance abuse is the goal of the ban at all.
Clamp down on Close Substitutes
The first step for the Government is to ensure that it clamps down on all other substitutes of codeine. This clamp down will ensure denied access to all other substances that may be abused just like codeine. To think of it, the report by BBC Africa Eye was to show how this drug takes away the beauty of life from people, especially youths and it will be disappointing for the citizens and the global world to find out that the ban parallels such aim. Therefore, the ultimate goal of the Government should not even be to ban codeine but that the ban translates into a worthy and enviable life for citizens, both in the short-run and the long-run. If not, the Government will only have succeeded in banning codeine but not ending the threat to lives of various youths whose future may be hampered by addiction to substances.
In clamping down on other substitutes, it is only obvious that the Government cannot do this without closing up the gap between itself and her citizens. One would be shocked at the initial finding that BBC took up a detective role in Nigeria when we should have units in the Nigerian Police doing some of these undercover works. The Nigerian Government needs to show how much of its people it knows by building and empowering its appropriate portals to carry out these tasks. It is a complete eyesore like many had earlier mentioned that the Government pretends not to know of the abuse on codeine until Ruona worked on it. It beckons on the question of whether the Government even knows the people it governs over, but that is definitely not a question for today, it is a charge for the Government to do, even if it has failed in times past.
The investigation and undercover works should not stop here, it has to continue; to ensure that the black market for codeine is completely shut and make sure other substitutes are not uncontrollably finding their way into the market. So, while the government may look into proper regulation of codeine and related drug brands in the pharmaceutical world, it is highly pertinent that appropriate regulations are also made for the close substitutes of this product.
Also, there is a need to charge Governmental agencies to be proactive. One would have expected that NAFDAC for instance had written a recommendation to the Nigerian Senate to ban codeine or enforce sanctions on the codeine cartels. But the agency did none of these until the voices of the people became loudest. It bothers on why it was established as an agency in the first instance. It is not worthy to be one, if it has failed in carrying out the necessary statutory for which its establishment was unavoidable. Therefore, the Government must do everything in its strength to empower related agencies to carry out the works assigned unto them by the need for their establishment.
Keep an Eye on Pharmaceutical Companies
One of the fast trackers to the ultimate goal of eradicating substance addiction is looking beyond the peripheral to seeing deep causes for why these things have come to play. On the causatives of the rise of this menace, the first focus will be on why the access to codeine in the underworld is something that saw the light of the day. That takes us to how sales representatives in pharmaceutical companies are extremely pressured to rake in more money as revenue for the company. This financial request from companies have not risen to an all-time high like we have it in this dispensation.
The gladness of heart would have come if Ruona and her team - as a plus - had investigated why these pharmaceutical workers decided to walk that path. One preemptive sure reply would have been the huge monetary targets that these workers have to turn in for the company, just to retain their jobs, in the world predominated by the narrative of high unemployment rate. At the point where Codeine is the bestseller in the market, any sales rep for the risk of losing his/her job may have done the same. While this is no justification at all for the accused persons, it calls on the Government to do exceedingly more on the issue of unemployment and job insecurity. It is very important for the Government to keep an eye on pharmaceutical companies and even further enforce the empowerment of Human Resource units, which serve as the Social units for many companies.
Strengthening and Empowering Counselling Units in Nigerian Universities
The addiction rate in Nigerian Universities is incomparable to what we have outside of the academic towers. One fact is that most of the addictions and discoveries of the substance emanates from the academic sphere, before such menaces are exported to the larger society. In view of that, a lot of arduous works have to be done at the core of origination. Once the source is attacked, the spread and supply will plummet, and that is why it is very key for the Government to thicken the message in Nigerian Universities. This can best be done by strengthening and empowering the Guidance and Counseling unit of Nigerian Universities or otherwise, enforcing the functionality of this unit on University officials. This unit in the Nigerian academic sphere are slowly fizzling out with little or no effectiveness at all. They have even failed the purpose of their existence as students do not see the unit as an option, when they feel mentally unstable. A student had even complained one time that all they do in her school’s unit is to shove Jesus Christ in the face of people – a total discouragement to the few that try it out.
The Government for one has failed in making the psychology profession lucrative, such that graduates of the discipline from various varsities usually have no option than to end up in the academic line. However, due to the state of the nation, lot of citizens daily face challenges of mental health, psychological relations, yet, the support systems for which these challenges can be overcome are not embossed into the society. The story is worse in Nigerian Universities, where student face tons of financial, academic and physiological challenges, with unlimited kinds of stressors, and yet are pressured to produce high academic results. The only-go-to persons as established in the Universities – the guidance and counselling units – are dominated by incompetent people, who lack the barest knowledge of helping people out. Yearly, students drop out of school, get frustrated in diverse ways or even at worst, commit suicide, yet the world moves on like nothing happened, less concerned with the next suicide that may happen.
Many Nigerian University Managements have become “Idi-amins” at their duty post, leaving the students with little or no say. While protests have rolled in at various corners of Nigerian varsities, the grievances of students still remain largely unattended to, overpowered by the draconian rules of Vice-chancellors. The Government has to do a whole lot at overhauling the systems of Governance in Nigerian Universities, but mostly importantly, in line with the recent ban, the Government has to equip and empower Nigerian Universities to install effective support systems, including Guidance and Counselling units, for psychological issues faced by students. Only by then, can students who are suffering from addiction to substances see the light at visiting these support units and opening up on their challenges. The little lives that this may save will definitely be worth it.
This is a call to the Government to do more than just banning codeine, as it may not solve the big problem at hand. The Government has shown his wake to the menace, and if it has at all, she has to ensure it does not go back to sleep. The society also has its role to play. The blames-apportioning are only leaving us with more lives destroyed, and the dire need for an effective intervention is not mostly paramount at any other time than now.
Timilehin P. Abayomi is a third-year student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure and a campus journalist. You can connect with him on twitter.com/MeetTimbus
