Let’s talk about the threat of mkpụrụ mmiri (methamphetamine) in ala Igbo -By Rees Chikwendu

There is a growing threat in Igbo land, which has gotten to the point that we cannot ignore. And, before you say, Aha, the Igbos are receiving their comeuppance in the end! Let me correct a misconception.

First, this menace is not ravaging the Igbo society or region alone; it is also prevalent in the West and North of Nigeria; and many young people in Abuja, Lagos, and other cities are abusing stimulant drugs. Stimulant drugs like meth have destroyed many young people in northern Nigeria for decades, so this threat is not peculiar to the Igbo society. However, the Igbos, in their uniqueness, are quick to call out and condemn their sins, no matter if it involves their family members. That is why you see so many Igbos involved in curbing this menace. The Igbos believe in community and are deeply spiritual; that is also why they fight for justice and fairness everywhere. 

Second, some Igbos are indeed in drug trafficking. No doubt they have been part of the trafficking and distribution of the substance destroying other societies. Therefore, I can understand the desire to quickly say, aha, to what is now threatening their land. But there is another misconception to this. Some Nigerians quickly associate drug trafficking and distribution with the Igbos because a majority of the people caught abroad in this dirty business bear Igbo names. On the contrary, the Igbos are not even at the top of the drug cartel in West Africa, but the Yorubas and Fulanis are. I will explain.

If you have limited knowledge of statistics, you would think that 2% of 60 million Igbos who commit a crime is more than 2% of 8 million Fulanis who commit the same crime. The Igbos have the highest number of black people found outside Nigeria or Africa. Therefore, the probability of finding a black person of Igbo race in any crime committed abroad is high.

In addition, knowing the Igbo man, he is ambitious and hardworking but also annoyingly loud and confident. The Igbo man believes that he worked hard for his money, therefore, would not hesitate to display gotten wealth – even ill-gotten ones. The Igbo society is one with a culture of achievements, so it is highly competitive. This cultural behavior is a blessing and curse to the Igbo man. For example, an Igbo man trafficker and distributor of drugs for a Yoruba or Fulani drug baron who uses the Nigerian embassies as a cover up would live a flamboyant and lousy lifestyle that makes people think he is at the top of the cartel.

Think about these two people for a moment – Dangote and Otedola. They are among the wealthiest people in the world who are ripping off Nigeria but rarely make noise.  At the same time, think about a “boyboy” like Obi Cubana, who would make the loudest noise that attracted the attention of the EFCC. That is the Igbo curse – unchecked annoying lousiness and confidence.

Let’s get back to the main subject.

Recent new dynamic changes affected the availability and consumption pattern of stimulant drugs in Nigeria. That change is now also affecting Igbo society, and it has become a growing threat to its young people.

1.         The COVID pandemic effect.

Nigeria orchestrates most of the trafficking of methamphetamine (mkpụrụ mmiri in Igbo), originating from West Africa via the EU to Asia. Although, the EU countries like The Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, etc., have sufficient meth laboratories that supply the demand in Europe and Australia. But Europe as a transportation hub to Asia, sometimes methamphetamine originating from Nigeria – which has the largest meth laboratories in West Africa – en route to Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc., end up in the EU market.

However, the recent COVID pandemic caused the greatest upset in the global trafficking and distribution of meth and crack. The pandemic forced governments to introduce travel restrictions; countries that used boom with pleasure and recreation substances closed their borders; foreign embassies limited visas for only essential travel; which significantly affected tourism. Clubs were closed, and streets became empty. All of these, in other words, mean no business for street hookers of meth originating from countries like Nigeria.

The above situation has made large numbers of kilograms of stimulant drugs like meth readily available in countries that were not their intended markets. Seeing how challenging it has become to traffick these drugs outside Nigeria, the producers and traffickers use the local population as their market to recoup their investments.

2.         The Muhammadu Buhari economic effect

The global economy is biting everywhere during this pandemic, but the gross mismanagement of the Nigerian economy under the regime of Muhammadu Buhari requires no economist to understand. Buhari has taken Nigeria back to the stone age and has battered the spirit of the citizens. Nigeria became the world headquarter of poverty under the regime of Muhammadu Buhari, so Nigerians are now poorer than they were more than seven (6) years ago.

We also know that there is a correlation between poverty and drug abuse. Financial instability fosters stress, increasing the likelihood of addictive behaviors. When you add the instability caused by the pandemic to the miseries the government in Abuja has caused Nigerians, it is easy to deduce the reason for the spike in the level of substance abuse across the country. The government of Muhammadu Buhari is a plague to Nigerians. It is now causing manifest and latent damages to the lives of the people.

3.         Fulani ravaging war strategy

Abuse of drugs and alcohol is part of a war strategy to ravage and destroy society, and the Fulanis are out to destroy Igbo land. They see this as an act of revenge based on their twisted belief that Igbos produce the drugs their people consume in the North. So they are not coming in droves with guns and knives alone but with drugs too. Their first strategy was the destruction of farmlands, stopping our men and women from going to their farms out of fear of Fulani’s wanton killings. That was a strategy to increase poverty in the land and entice our women with money and drugs.

We must leave no stone unturned as we go about for a solution to this menace in our land. Flogging young people caught in the abuse of substances cannot achieve a lasting solution. They are the victims who need help not such punishment. The people should go for those who produce the mkpụrụ mmiri (methamphetamine) in their homes, bushes, church premises, etc. FYI, some pastors are the biggest boys in Nigeria’s drug cartels. Maybe ESN should give their support in finding the people involved and their laboratories. Use the victims to identify the sellers and the producers. It involves thorough investigation, not the usual lousiness. Maybe a stop and search should be introduced in Igbo communities without molesting anyone.

Written by Rees Chikwendu