EXPOSED! How pharmaceutical companies aid abuse of codeine in Nigeria

By Sola Ogundipe

AN undercover investigation  conducted by Africa Eye – a new TV investigations documentary strand from the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC,  has revealed how  leakages in the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory system is aiding the plague of addiction to cough syrup across Nigeria.

*Experts say codeine syrup is used in treatment of cough, but when abused could lead to full-fledged addiction that is potentially deadly.

The exclusive undercover investigation, co-produced with BBC Pidgin, reveals how highly placed officials of pharmaceutical companies illegally supply codeine syrup  products   from their factories to drug dealers who in turn sell the dangerously addictive, sweet-tasting mixtures to addicts.

A documentary of the investigation entitled: Sweet Sweet Codeine, captures in graphic details activities of the highly organised codeine syrup syndicate.

With access to Nigeria’s crack anti-drug squads, BBC Pidgin journalist, Ruona Meyer, whose brother has struggled with cough syrup addiction, was part of the investigation to unravel the secrets of the syrup plague and to expose the criminals behind it.

“It’s shocking what we found and how much of an epidemic cough syrup abuse has become in Nigeria. Equally shocking is the sheer size of criminal network involved in the illicit trade,” said Adejuwon Soyinka, Editor of the BBC Pidgin, who carried out the investigation.

Soyinka told Vanguard in an interview that the findings raised significant questions.

“The trigger for us was that  we had heard of instances that parents came forward to complain  or talk about their teenaged children in secondary school engaging in codeine addiction.

“To us, that was strange and alarming. We thought it was a big story only to begin looking into it and found that the situation was actually quite deeper and bigger than we thought.

“We found that not only secondary school students were abusing codeine, but university students and other young adults too. It had become a staple in night clubs and birthday parties.

“Again, we found that the real story was not really  about the addiction, but the fact that those abusing codeine syrup were able to come across it in large quantities.

According to Soyinka, the issue was how did they come across large quantities of codeine, an otherwise regulated product that you couldn’t buy just a bottle without prescription?

Codeine is a classified  opiate (narcotics with  high potential for addiction) and it is strictly a prescription-only drug. Under normal use, it acts as a relatively mild opiate,  used medically as effective pain reliever and cough suppressant.

However, codeine is recognised as  a dangerous drug because of increasing usage and abuse  particularly among celebrities, teenagers and young adults.

Medical literature says codeine is typically administered in liquid or pill form and relatively safe when used under the direction of a medical professional to treat minor pain or control troublesome coughs. However, users often abuse codeine for the feelings of relaxation and euphoria they produce.

Codeine abuse can develop into a full-fledged addiction that is potentially deadly.

Like many opiates, withdrawal symptoms from codeine can be quite severe, keeping the user in a cycle of use they find difficult to stop.

In 2017, the House of Representatives asked the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to immediately ban  dispensing and sale of codeine across the counter nationwide.

NAFDAC was also urged to ensure that the drug was sold on prescription and called for  design of a central database where prescription data could be logged in to help detect addicts and over prescription.

Recent reports by the Federal Government estimated that about three million bottles of codeine syrup are consumed daily  in northern  Nigeria.

Ahmed Buhari, the initiator of Ahmed Buhari Youth Movement.
[Photo credit: Official twitter handle of the Ahmed Buhari Campaign group]

2019: Why I want to be Nigeria’s president – Ahmed Buhari

April 29, 2018 Agency Report

Ahmed Buhari, the initiator of Ahmed Buhari Youth Movement, says his interest in vying for the office of the president of Nigeria is informed by the need to have a generational change in the leadership of the country.

Mr Buhari, who is a geologist by training, stated this while speaking with journalists on Sunday in Ilorin on the sidelines of his meeting with members of the Ahmed B. Youth Movement in Kwara.

According to him, the youth have lost hope in the current system of governance which has created a wide gulf between the young and old generation, stressing that it was high time the young people participated in politics and governance of the country to avoid vacuum in government.

“Most importantly, our involvement is going to be an enlightenment to young people that it is true that we can do something.

“To let them know that the reason we are doing this is because we understand that if we do not allow responsibility to be transferred from one generation to next generation at the right time, a vacuum will be created.

“If this vacuum is created, a lot can go into that vacuum. It could be herdsmen; it could be Boko Haram; it could be kidnapping; it could be baby factory; it could be armed robbery, it could be a lot of things.

“It is because these young people do not feel any need for them to be looking up for something that hope is lost and so we are trying to revamp young people to understand that they have to participate in politics.

“While they participate in politics, they shouldn’t make money politics a front burner for them. They should be more concerned about how they will even support aspirants so that when they get to the office, those aspirants will be answerable to them.

Senator Shehu Sani Named Suspect In Murder Case, Invited By Police

Senator Shehu Sani

Kaduna State Police Commissioner Austin Iwar has invited Senator Shehu Sani for questioning in a homicide investigation.

The police said he is a person of interest to the murder saga.

They requested the kaduna Central senator to report on April 30.

A letter was routed through the Clerk of the National Assembly. A copy of it was sent to Senate President Bukola Saraki.

“This is in connection with a case of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide transferred to this office by 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Kaduna, alongside with exhibit audio CD in which your name was mentioned by the principal suspect,” CP Iwar said in a letter to Sani.

But the Senator alleged that the Kaduna State government had concluded plans to frame him up with a murder case, necessitating the move by the police to label him as person of interest.

One Isa Garba, one of the suspects in a murder case was said to have implicated the senator.

It was gathered that Sani’s name was mentioned when the suspect, said to have participated in the killings of one Lawal Madugu, implicated another person called Bashir Hamdada.

Although he did not pick telephone calls put across to him by The Nation, the police commissioner was reported to have said that the case was not politically-motivated.

Buhari supporter, Senator Omo-Agege suspended for 90 days

*Senate disbands Buhari support group 

The Senate’s hammer fell on another senator yesterday for dissent over the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC Delta Central), who opposed the electoral sequence reorder in the Bill alongside nine others, was suspended for 90 legislative days following the adoption of a report by the Ethics and disciplinary committee headed by Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo East).

President Muhammadu Buhari vetoed the bill.

It reversed the existing sequence of election in the country, placing the National Assembly first, with the presidential election coming last. But the National Assembly is poised to override the veto.

Coming under the aegis of Parliamentary Support Group for Buhari, the group of senators held a media briefing where they openly disagreed with the Senate.

Omo-Agege said during the media briefing that 59 senators were against the bill, a claim he failed to substantiate when called upon to do so.

The Nation reports that the Senate also called on the ten senators to disband the Parliamentary Support Group for Buhari as a condition for maintaining the peace among the lawmakers. It also ordered Omo-Agege to withdraw his case from court.

Presenting the report that nailed Omo-Agege at plenary, Senator Anyanwu said the suspended lawmaker declined to make presentation to the committee on the grounds that he had already taken the matter to court.

When grilled by the Senate on the matter, an obviously overwhelmed Omo-Agege had tendered an apology for his role in the activities of the pro Buhari group. But the apology did not stop the Senate from referring his case to the Ethics and Privileges committee.

In its report, the committee recommended 181 legislative days suspension for Omo-Agege, but it was reduced following the intervention of some senators during the debate.

The report stated among others: “That the committee is of the opinion that the action by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of going to court after apologising to the Senate was totally unacceptable, especially as an experienced lawyer and member of the committee who is conversant with the modus operandi of same, and therefore must be punished to serve as deterrent to others who might contemplate taking the Senate to court over its internal matters”.

Subtle pleas by Senators Kabiru Marafa, Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan for a more lenient punishment for Omo-Agege failed to the sway the senators who viewed the suspended lawmaker’s action as an affront.

Marafa said, “Omo-Agege to me has the constitutional right to express his views. But like the leader said, I think he has done something which to me deserves commendation. If someone does something that you cannot do we need to commend him. He stood on the floor of the Senate to apologise which to be is a very great thing”.

Na’Allah said, “For anybody here to go and have a press conference and say the Senate had taken a decision against Mr President, is a most uncharitable thing to do. It does not befit his office as a senator.

“But happliy enough, Senator Omo-Agege came here and had the courage to apologise for the statement. But it is much more than that. There are places you dare not talk about the President when some senators are from there. By implication, he is putting their lives at risk.

“As a family, we must have discipline and must live peacefully for this institution and the only way we can do it, is that get the consquence of what they are saying.

“Let us take away sentiments. We are going to leave here whether we like it or not; either through death or whatever. But this institution will remain. We must be very careful about it”.

Senate President Bukola Saraki said the action taken by Omo-Agege and his group smacked of insincerity, saying if they were to be any parliamentary group in support of President Buhari, he, more than anyone else, should lead such a group.

He said: “Those of us that understand politics, understand that because of our own peculiar interests, sometimes some people decide to act like they are holier than thou or more committed — at the expense of others.

“This is not something that we should tolerate, and I believe that in an institution like this, we must show discipline. But at the same time, we must also show compassion.

“Distinguished colleagues, there must be discipline. We must show that such groups must be suspended and the case in court must be withdrawn”.

Before bringing down the gavel to confirm Omo-Agege’s suspension, Saraki said there shouldn’t be any more of such groups in the Senate and that the suspended lawmaker should withdraw his case from court.

“We are not in any hurry to take anybody away from this family; and we must lay down an example by showing that there is discipline and apply some form of discipline on this matter”.