The Abuja markets where illicit drugs are readily available for sale to people at all times, has been exposed...
Are you new in Abuja? Have you been to
gardens and recreation centres? Have you patronised the popular ‘aboki’
kiosk? Have you been accosted by phoney-looking guys in parking lots of
big shopping malls or filling stations? Do you sometimes wonder the
type of trade they ply?
Look no further. The next time you are accosted, look the other
way, unless you want to patronise illegal drug dealers, who have
technically taken control of popular gardens, filling stations, parking
lots of shopping malls and now kiosks.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Nigeria is a transit point for heroine and cocaine intended for
European, East Asian and North American markets. Since 2004, drug
traffickers have been increasingly using West African countries,
including Nigeria, for smuggling large amounts of cocaine from South
America into Europe and North America.
Nigeria, according to UNODC, has a relatively high rate of drug
abuse due to the continued availability of illicitly manufactured and
diverted pharmaceutical products containing narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances. The most abused drug in Nigeria, according to
the global agency, is cannabis, mainly in its herbal form.
Abuja, being the seat of power, naturally attracts all kinds of
things, including sale and consumption of illegal drugs. Wrongly or
rightly, folks hold the view that since Nigeria’s top political echelons
reside in Abuja, there must be a ready market to supply their illicit
drug needs.
Daily Sun went on an investigative voyage to unravel districts and
other isolated places where these hard and illicit drugs are sold.
According to findings, many kiosks in Abuja sell illicit drugs such
as cocaine, tramadol, ketamine, marijuana, etc. The owners of shops
disguise as if they sell normal household items, but beneath it is a
warehouse of illicit drugs.
Around Banex junction, the business is booming. Even the presence
of police vans there do not deter patronage. When you see an expensive
car pull over at the junction, a seller emerges and enters the car, then
transaction will take place.
Some sellers disguise as recharge card sellers, while others feign
touting passengers for drivers. The drama is so confusing that one who
is not in the business could hardly fathom what is playing out.
A major park in Wuse II is one relaxation centre that is sort
after. Out of ten cars that entre the spot, ten are tinted. People
throng in even on week days to relax. It is a large spot that almost all
the goodies of life are sold there. During the day, commercial sex
workers are groomed and advised on how to operate. Their spot is after
the first joint were a boldly written inscription is engraved on the
wall that reads “POS available here.”
Serious renovation is taken place there. If you sauntered further
inside a popular restaurant there, as food is served, demands are made
on drugs secretly. There, a rap of marijuana is sold at N500.
Mind you, not everybody has the chance to see the drugs. Before you
get, especially when you are not a regular customer, you will be
surveyed properly and if the sellers are not convinced, you will be
bounced. It is a coded business that is thriving at Citi Park. When the
sellers get information that security operative would storm the area,
they use girls to execute the business.
Another area where the business is gaining momentum is Utako Park.
Sellers spread all over the place. The place might look dirty with
other businesses booming, but it is a fertile ground for drugs. There,
because of it porous nature, people smoke away their lungs and drink to
stupor openly.
It was reliably gathered that as dirty as the park looks, millions of naira are made due to the sale of the drugs.
“You should not look at the place as a mere park or the people
there as mere lay about. They are richer than some workers due to the
flourishing of the business. They don’t sell the drugs to anybody they
see. There is a cartel. Until you are recommended or properly searched
you won’t see the seller,” a business operator in the park told our correspondent who visited the place.
According to several medical researches conducted in the last ten
years, consumption of illicit drugs weaken immune system and increases
susceptibility to infections. It also causes cardiovascular conditions,
ranging from abnormal heart rate to heart attacks.
Similarly, it causes nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Consumption causes the liver to have to work harder, possibly causing
significant damage or liver failure. It causes seizures, stroke and
widespread brain damage that can impact all aspects of daily life by
causing problems with memory, attention and decision-making, including
sustained mental confusion and permanent brain damage.
It also produces global body changes such as breast development in
men, dramatic fluctuations in appetite and increase in body temperature,
which may impact a variety of health conditions.
Despite the foregoing, many Abuja residents still damn the effects. John (not real name) said: “I
don’t take this drug (marijuana) because I like it. Just that it helps
me to sleep and forget about my problem for the moment. I have tried to
stop it, but it is very difficult. I hope and pray that someday it would
be a thing of the past.”##
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