… children under 6 hooked on drugs
Dr. Diamond Tamunokuro, a psychiatrist and Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) South-South Region, has raised an alarm over the increasing involvement of children as young as six getting hooked on drug and substance abuse.
In an interview at the Regional Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue on Drug and Substance Abuse Prevention in the Niger Delta, highlighting the trends, challenges and call to action said, “We are beginning to see children as young as six, seven, and eight hooked on drugs.
He said this has made rehabilitation of substance abusers very difficult to handle. “The younger the patient, the more difficult it becomes to rehabilitate.”
The dialogue, organized by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in partnership with Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) and the Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND), and funded by the European Union (EU), gathered doctors, civil society leaders, security agencies, and community stakeholders to discuss the worsening drug crisis ravaging the region.
Drug abuse in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta is no longer confined to street corners or back alleys. It’s creeping into classrooms, homes, and even churches.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) places the prevalence of substance use in the South-South at 16.6 percentage, one of the highest in the country. But experts say the figure hardly captures the real depth of the problem.
Dr. Tamunokuro painted a disturbing picture, when he said, “We have children, barely in primary school, already experimenting with substances. By adolescence, they are dependent. These are not statistics, these are real lives being lost to addiction before they even get a chance to grow.”
What makes this more alarming is the shrinking age bracket of new users a phenomenon driven by peer influence, family breakdown, exposure to glamorized drug use in music and film, and the absence of early mental health support.
As the NDLEA and security agencies intensify raids and arrests, Dr. Tamunokuro believes that while supply-side interventions are necessary, they are not enough.
“We can chase producers all day,” he said, “but as long as people demand drugs, suppliers will always find their way back. The real fight must be against demand, against addiction itself.”
He likened it to fighting smoke instead of fire. The psychiatrist argues that rehabilitation and prevention must take center stage.
But that is where Nigeria faces one of its most daunting challenges: a critical shortage of mental health professionals.
“We have less than 300 psychiatrists in a country of over 200 million people,” he explained. “That’s roughly one psychiatrist for every 700,000 Nigerians. We simply don’t have the manpower to manage the magnitude of addiction we’re seeing.”
Even for those willing to seek help, rehabilitation is out of reach for most.
A typical recovery programme like Dr. Wodu Chimenum, a psychiatrist at the University of Port Harcourt Drug and Addiction unit, noted, can cost over N1 million per month, with treatment ideally lasting three months or more. For a struggling youth or low-income family, that is a luxury they cannot afford.
“Drug rehabilitation shouldn’t be a privilege,” he said. “When people can’t access care, they relapse and the cycle continues. We must push for government subsidies and training incentives for psychiatrists and nurses so treatment becomes accessible.”
While urban dwellers benefit from awareness programs and NGO campaigns, many rural communities remain in the dark both figuratively and literally.
“There’s a huge gap between city dwellers and rural dwellers,” Dr. Tamunokuro observed. “Those in the city have more health information than they can even process, while people in the villages have almost none. Where there’s no knowledge, quacks fill the vacuum.”
To bridge that gap, the Nigerian Medical Association South-South has pledged to take sensitization to rural communities, organizing town hall meetings and interactive sessions with youth and traditional leaders.
“Health education is no longer something we can do from radio stations alone,” he said. “We have to go there physically to the villages, the fishing settlements, the creeks and speak with people face-to-face.”
Dr. Tamunokuro also raised concerns about the influence of media in normalizing drug use.
“When the people our youths look up to – artists, influencers, public figures openly use or glamorize drugs, they make it look cool. It becomes a lifestyle to imitate,” he lamented.
He urged the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to scrutinize music videos and media content that subtly promote drug culture.
“Young people learn from what they see,” he said. “We must show them positive role models not self-destruction in high definition.”
Dr. Tamunokuro said that community-based recovery groups, especially those led by former addicts, can become the turning point in Nigeria’s war against drugs.
“When people who have been there tell their stories and lead recovery groups, others listen. They become voices of hope,” he said.
“When the demand reduces, producers will naturally disappear. That’s the real strategy.”
As the event drew to a close, one could sense a shared urgency among participants from government agencies to NGOs and health experts. The Niger Delta, a region already grappling with environmental degradation and insecurity, now faces a new battle one that begins not in the creeks but in the minds of its young people.
Drug abuse is not someone else’s problem. It’s our collective crisis. Every school, every church, every parent has a role to play. If we don’t act now, we risk losing a generation and perhaps the next.
