Dr Aliyu Abubakar of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital
(ABUTH), Zaria, has said that the youths account for over 85 per cent of
mentally deragned people in Nigeria.
Abubakar made the remark in a paper he presented at a sensitisation
workshop for youths organised by Bizara Youth Development Association in
Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State entitled: “Drug Abuse in
Nigeria: Causes, Effects and Solutions.”
He said: “according to a recent study, 85 per cent of mad people in Nigeria are youths within the age bracket of 18-38 years.
The major cause of mental challenge in Nigeria has gone beyond
drug-abuse as the youths now inhale lizard feces, putting their noses
into pit toilets, smoking matches, smoking dried horse feces and mixing
lizard feces with dye powder.Drug abuse disorder is a common problem affecting about 5 per cent of
the of the world population with an estimated 10.2 per cent in the
USA.”
He recalled that in Nigeria, it was recently reported that about
three million bottles of cough syrup containing codeine is consumed
daily in Kano State and about six million bottles consumed in the
North-West. Abubakar added that in 2016, the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency reported that about 40 per cent of Nigerian youths
engaged in drug-abuse.
The medical doctor stressed that the consequences of drug-abuse
include mental disorder, liver cirrhosis, lethargy and cardiovascular
disorder among others. Abubakar added that those abusing drugs mostly
drop out of school, engage in cultism, violence, arm-robbery, thuggery,
rape, lawlessness, murders and are culturally disorientated.