In the heart of Lagos, as the lights dimmed for the private screening of the BBC’s latest exposé, the room grew heavy with a mix of shock and urgency.
The documentary ‘India’s Opioid Kings‘ laid bare a disturbing reality: a thriving network of illegal pharmaceutical manufacturers in India smuggling dangerous, addictive opioids into West Africa, with Nigeria at the epicenter.
The revelations sparked swift reactions from Nigerian authorities. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) issued strong responses on Friday, vowing to intensify their fight against the influx of these deadly drugs.
Despite Nigeria’s 2018 ban on tramadol sales without prescription, the smuggling of opioids persists. In 2023 alone, authorities seized over $100 million worth of illicit drugs, a staggering indication of the problem’s scale.
The documentary’s findings painted a harrowing picture of the human toll. Nigerian youth, battling unemployment and hardship, turn to opioids for escape. Farmers, pushed to physical extremes, rely on tramadol to endure long hours of labor. The addiction crisis has reached every corner of the nation, leaving families broken and communities in distress.
Yedunni Adenuga, Director of Narcotics and Controlled Substances at NAFDAC, acknowledged the challenge at the screening. “We have strong regulatory processes in dealing with medicines,” she said. “But these drugs find their way in because of the porous borders all around. We, in NAFDAC, are committed to ensuring that whatever medicines our people take are safe.”
The NDLEA echoed this commitment. Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, the agency’s chairman, didn’t mince words about the devastation opioids have caused. “It’s destroying our youth, our families, every community in Nigeria has been touched by this crisis,” he said.
