Up to 70 per cent of codeine cough syrup produced and imported in Nigeria end up in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, said on Wednesday.
With the rate of use of the drug, almost every family in Nigeria has an addict, he added.
Mr Lawan coming under order 43 of the Senate standing order was reacting to the ban on the production and importation of the cough syrup.
The Federal Government on May 1 ordered immediate ban on issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparation.
The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, who gave the directive said the move became necessary due to the gross abuse of Codeine in the country.
Raising his point of order on Wednesday, Mr Lawan said the development came after a collaborative effort of the Executive and Legislature.
“You will recall in October last year, this Senate debated and took resolutions on a motion specifically dealing with the abuse of drugs of particularly of codeine syrup in Northern Nigeria and Nigeria at large.
“The report at that debate was that between Jigawa and Kano states over three million bottles of codeine are consumed on a daily basis.
He tasked law enforcement agencies to ensure the drugs already procured by pharmacies be taken off counters.
He also prayed the Senate join the United Nations in celebrating June 26 as day set aside to raise awareness on drug abuse.
“I also feel that we don’t relent on this and go ahead to celebrate the anniversary that has been declared by the United Nations on drug abuse on June 26 every year. This drug addiction is what is killing us,” he said.
Mr Lawan said a bulk of the drugs end up in Sambisa Forest, the fortress of insurgency group, Boko Haram.
“The information I got this morning is that 70 percent of this codeine that comes into Nigeria finds its way into Sambisa forest and what that tells us is that we have Boko haram elements who are using this, we have others addicts who are using this. We may even have some of our security agencies who are under the influence of drugs. Therefore we need to do everything possible to support the Executive on this to minimize, even if we can’t eliminate completely this scourge.”
The Senate tasked its committee on health to look into Mr Lawan’s prayers.
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