The death of three students of Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), during a sex romp after allegedly downing overdose of tramadol and Indian hemp is heart rending. Thefourth person, the lone girl involved in the orgy attended Federal Polytechnic Nekede. One can only imagine the trauma parents of these students face as they try to reconcile the tragedy that has befallen their families. They have my sympathy.
Many of them would be wondering how their wards sent to study and prepare their future ended up as objects of public shame. If tramadol and Indian hemp could speak, they would have boasted like some misguided political actors did not long ago that for the delinquency of our society, four of our undergraduates have ended up in bodybags. If the dead could be given a second chance, the foursome may be so ashamed of their behaviour they may turn to hermits and nuns foreswearing celibacy.
But alas, the dead have no second chance to mend their ways. They are gone forever, leaving shame and regrets for their family and their society. Our dear country, if it has feelings, would bend in shame for breading children who consume themselves in perfidious circumstance. It will look itself in the mirror and see a crooked nation breeding crooked children. It will put on sackcloth and mourn in mortification for siring bunkums. Our country will realise that what you give is what you get.
Perhaps, if we are living in a highly litigious environment, like in the United States of America, the law could be tested whether the parents of the foursome are not victims of a failing state? As high as the presidency, we were told recently that tramadol has been banned from entering our country. Also we know that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) every now and then emphasises its relevance by displaying seized kilograms of banned Indian hemp.
So the two drugs that may have caused the deathof the foursome are banned drugs in our country; yet tons of the banned substance are out there, as a snare to our misguided youths. Well as a defence, the authorities sued could claim the students died of sexual overdose, not drug abuse. Whichever. In raising the scenario of a court case and culpability of our country in the death of the foursome, one is reminding the authorities to do more than they are doing to reduce the availability of these dangerous substance across our country.
Who knows the contribution of these dangerous drugs to the banditry that has put our nation on the spot recently?President Muhammadu Buhari said he is one of the unhappiest president, because of the kidnapping, killings and other forms of atrocities that have overwhelmed large swaths of our country. It may be necessary to undertake a study of the contribution of illicit drugs to the upsurge of criminality that has left many homes in mourning.
Like light weapons, which have been described as weapons of mass destruction, illicit drugs have become weapons of mass destruction for our youths. At a talk shop for parents of secondary school students I attended, drug abuse by teenagers turned a hot debate. Parents were shocked to learn how our so-called soft drinks when mixed withgrinded sweet, turn into hard drugs. In fact one of the parents urged for a ban of a particular soft drink in the school premises.
Another parent who claimed to be a social worker narrated that about 75% of the youths at the psychiatrist hospital where he works are victims of drug abuse. He worrisomely reiterated that the range of dangerous drugs keep mutating by the day. He explained how a cocktail of what ordinarily most parents will not raise an eyebrow about, if they see their children with it, could become a snare unto death as drugs.
Since the job of government includes how to help citizens to help themselves, those in positions of authority should wake up to save our next generation from themselves. Not long ago, the Nigerian Customs reportedly seized a container load of tramadol; in some states in Nigeria, growing Indian hemp is lucrative, while in some parts of the country, drug abuse is a social habit for many. While reinforcing our law enforcement capacity to combat these challenges, sociological approach is also necessary.
It is important to study the trends, the remote causes, where the abuse is preponderance and why. There is also the need to encourage schools to incorporate the dangers of drug abuse in their curriculum, to teachstudentsthat they must avoid the concatenation of ordinarily harmless substances, as it could turn totheir devourer. Parents should also be regularly engaged, and educated on what to watch out for, as early signs of potential abuse by their wards.
While our country is devoting huge resources to teach sciences in schools, resources should also be devoted to the study of social challenges. Obviously social related ailments have become more malignant than biological diseases. The foursome consumed in Imo State, few hours before their death may have been certified healthy. Yet,after a few hours of madness, they have been consumed by what may have started as a social pressure from their peers tobelong to a reckless class.
While the authorities at FUTO cannot be held accountable for the tragedy that came calling, they must not allow the tragedy to pass unnoticed by every student in the school. They should ensure that the school openly put on sackcloth in mourning, so thatthose who are engaged in similar idiocy are adequately forewarned. The shame should be collectively borne so that those who have ears will never be tempted down such an ignominious road. I hope they would not play the ostrich so the shame can quickly pass by.
The governments must also put in place stricter laws, and create a better capacity to enforce it. Any person who still engages in the importation of tramadol must be caught and made to face the law. A programme to educate managers of our youths, should be put in place to teach them what to watch out for. Every school, whether public or private must have a curriculum on guidance and counselling, and qualified personnel with knowledge of these modern challenges must be recruited to help our youths.
Adult delinquency which is rampart especially as corrupt practices in government, are the forbearersof these youth delinquency. So the adults must also mend their ways. When politics is turned into a means for criminal self-aggrandizement, the younger generation learn negative ethos, and these translates into cultism, drug abuse, examination malpractice and other social vices that plague our society. Who will save our future generation from perdition?