Dust over Senate’s drug test for politicians

Recently, the upper legislative chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate, was thrown into uproar following a bill seeking to create a new agency to handle narcotics and rehabilitation of drug abusers in the country.

Trouble was reported to have started when the senator representing Kano South, Sumaila Kawu, advocated that elected and appointed political officeholders be subjected to drug tests before assuming office.

Senator Kawu canvassed for the position while contributing to a debate on the general principles of the bill seeking to establish the National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation to coordinate and promote awareness, prevent substance abuse and facilitate the rehabilitation of drug users.

The bill which was sponsored by Rufai Hangar, representing Kano Central, engaged the lawmakers in a heated argument on the floor of the senate over the new bill.

The Kano South senator had alleged that some lawmakers’ homes and their constituency offices are used to stockpile illicit drugs.

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He also alleged that political leaders buy illicit drugs for their supporters during elections in their desperate move to win, stressing that it would be difficult to curtail the consumption and usage of such drugs unless certain issues were addressed.

He further alleged that most security operatives and other high-profile Nigerians, including politicians, are equally involved in drug peddling.
“We need to create a situation where before conducting elections or before taking appointments, people must go for a drug test.

“As I am speaking now, most of our officers in our constituencies, most of our political officers, most of our houses, when you go there, you will find out that there is a mountain of drugs.

“There are drug dealers in our offices and our houses. I am immune to talk, I am in the chamber of the Senate and I can take you to some of the political leaders who are in so many ways contributing to drug abuse in Nigeria. Mr. President, we need to be serious,” he said.

He added that the problem of drug trafficking and consumption has eaten deep into the fabric of Nigerian society.

“Drug abuse is a major problem in Nigeria. In Kano and other parts of Nigeria, drug abuse is high. Students are involved and it has eaten deep into the society. It is a big problem that we need to confront.

“Politicians give drugs to their supporters during elections. We know these things. Some security operatives sell drugs and we have others even in families who sell these drugs. We know these things.

“Let us tell each other the truth. I am proposing that all political office holders, both elective and appointive, must be subjected to compulsory drug tests. Those who are found to be abusers should not be allowed to hold public offices,” he said.

However, his proposition did not sit well with some other senators, who promptly responded to oppose him. He was abruptly stopped by the Senate Deputy President, Jibrin Barau, who presided over the plenary.

Barau cited Order 36 of the standing rules of the upper legislative chamber to rule him out of order.

Leading the debate, the bill sponsor, Rufa’i had noted that drug abuse has enabled crime in the country. “The objective of this bill is to raise awareness on drug abuse, drug trafficking and the rehabilitation of drug users,” he said.

But, Senators Seriake Dickson and Adams Oshiomhole opposed the establishment of a new agency to tackle the problem of drug abuse, especially with the existence of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

Dickson agreed that drug consumption has fuelled crime and criminality in Nigeria but aligned with Oshiomhole, who argued that it was better to strengthen the Act establishing the NDLEA to deal with the problems raised by their colleagues instead of establishing a new body.

The former Edo Governor said: “I have a serious concern; there is no disputing the fact that drug abuse has become a national challenge. As we speak, we have the NDLEA which not only prosecutes traffickers but also takes care of drug abuse. I think what we have to do is to look at the existing law of NDLEA to see how we can strengthen it. But with this idea of setting up agencies for everything, we will soon have laws against cough.

“We are spending so much on overhead. I am not convinced that we need another body to compete with the NDLEA,” he submitted.

Throwing his weight behind Oshiomhole’s position, the senator representing Jigawa North West, Hussaini Uba, said: “Yesterday, we were told that every day, new drugs are imported into Nigeria. I was shaken to my marrow when I was told that dry human waste is turned into things to get high. We can look at the existing institutions to strengthen the matter.”

However, following the development in the senate, Nigerians have also reacted with many throwing their weight behind the move to test those who are elected or appointed into public offices in the country. Yet, others came down on the current Senate, saying it has not lived up to its constitutional responsibilities.

Reacting, the president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Yerima Shettima commended the upper legislative chambers of the National Assembly for the move, maintaining that quite a number of politicians live under the influence of drugs; a condition he said predisposes them to act in a manner that is insensitive to the plight of the people they are supposed to lead and cater for.

“I commend the proposal because a lot of our politicians live under the influence of drugs. That is why they cannot give people what they deserve. Most of them are into drugs and what it means is that close to 70 percent of the so-called political leaders will fail the test.

“You don’t expect somebody who is addicted to drugs to give you anything good. This is because their mindset and their thinking are distorted. They don’t even get to know that there is a problem because they are always under the influence of drugs.

“I am sure that going by the calibre of political leaders we have today, 70 percent or more of them will fail the test, and that is good. So, I commend the move,” he submitted.

For Ikechukwu Onodi, a lawyer and public affairs analyst, the current senate has not lived up to the people’s expectations. He noted that it has been from one blunder to another, including the current matter under review.

He argued that even if it becomes necessary to test politicians for drugs, he couldn’t make any sense in trying to establish another agency to handle that when the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, still exists, except that they want an avenue to rip the nation off its lean resources.

He said: “The 10th Senate has continued to misfire on all fronts. There has never been any positive as far as the present Senate of the National Assembly is concerned.

“If it becomes necessary to test aspirants for political offices, does that justify the creation of a new agency for the purpose? What happened to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)?

“In one breath, the executive arm of the government is talking about the implementation of the Stephen Oronsanya Report that recommended cutting down the number of government agencies and removal of unduly duplicated Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs. In another breath, the Senate, which has proven and boasted to be a rubber stamp of the executive, is warming up to establish yet another needless agency. What an irony!

“All the same, it is good to test politicians for drugs because it appears many of them live under that substance otherwise, they shouldn’t behave the way they behave most often. But I am against establishing another agency to handle that because the NDLEA can comfortably handle that. Let them not create another agency that will be a drain pipe on public resources.”

For Mohammed Yankwashi, a former lawmaker in Jigawa State, it is a welcome development, but he wants the senate to start from its members because according to him, charity begins from home.

“The senate’s proposal is a welcome development. Most of the politicians are actually under the influence of drugs, no doubt about that.

“Their actions and utterances often give them away. You can’t convince me that somebody a leader for that matter, who has his or her senses intact would allow the people he/she is leading to be suffering the way Nigerians are suffering all over. The politicians are insensitive to the people’s plight because they are under the influence of something.

“It will be good so that those who aspire to hold public offices are people who will be in the right frame of mind and body at all times to really deliver good governance to the people.

“However, I would want the Senate to start from its base. Let them purge the hallowed chambers of drug users first before testing other people because charity, they say, begins at home.”