IN the past six months, I have been tracking the number of Nigerians arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos for allegedly trafficking in illegal drugs and other narcotics. The number of arrests, in particular multiple arrests, is definitely on the increase. But it is not the mere number of arrests that should catch anyone's attention. The stories the drug merchants tell customs officers and agents of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are as fascinating as they are insightful.

Drug trafficking is certainly on the rise in Nigeria. Consider these statistics. In 2007, over 519 alleged drug smugglers were arrested by the Lagos State branch of the NDLEA, as well as the MMIA wing of the anti-narcotics agency. Compare that figure with 141 suspects who were arrested by the Niger State arm of the NDLEA between June and December 2007. Over four thousand kilograms of the drugs were seized by the Niger State NDLEA alone.

In the last week of January this year, NDLEA officers at the Lagos international airport arrested a 31-year-old, US-based Nigerian undergraduate with 13.5 kilograms of cocaine. In the first week of this month, NDLEA officers arrested two men, one of whom admitted that he swallowed 100 wraps of cocaine for a fee of 6,000 Euro. The other suspect was reported to have confessed to concealing 71 packets of cocaine in his body. He said he went into illicit drug business because he wanted to clear the debts he accumulated. The other suspect simply said he had problems and he needed money to solve those problems.

The stories are similar. In the first weekend of October 2007, NDLEA agents arrested a 22-year-old female nurse who concealed 1.375 kilograms of cocaine in the most private part of her body and in her false hair. She told her interrogators: "I have financial problems... that was why I accepted to take the drugs for the sum of 4,000 Euro."

The first weekend of October 2007 recorded a higher-than-usual number of arrests of drug smugglers at the Lagos international airport. In that weekend alone, four men were also arrested for attempting to smuggle various quantities of hard drugs. Each of them said he was driven into the business because he needed money to solve personal problems.

For lack of space, I am unable to chronicle in this column the number of arrests made within the past six months. The situation is getting worse. And these embarrassing arrests have not escaped the attention of the United States' government which included Nigeria (the only African country) in its list of 20 countries that figured prominently in the transportation and production of illegal drugs.

Long before the invention of "419" fraudulent business proposals, some Nigerians had carved a name on the global map of notoriety through involvement in illegal drug business. At various overseas airports, Nigerian drug mules were being picked up regularly by overseas customs and anti-narcotics agents. Soon the world was regaled with stories of how Nigerian drug dealers and transporters concealed illegal substances in their tummies by swallowing drugs wrapped in waterproof containers. Worse still, female drug couriers chose to conceal the drugs in the inner recesses of their bodies, including inside the bulging extensions of their false hair. The era of complex deception in drug trafficking had started. Desperate times yield bad manners!

Unable to contain the scandal, the federal military government at the time introduced the death penalty clause for anyone convicted of trafficking in narcotics and other illegal drugs. Did the death penalty scare or steer Nigerians away from smuggling illegal drugs? You bet -- it did not. Rather than serve as a disincentive, the death penalty proved to be a shot in the arm for those for whom the law was designed - the kingpins, their chief servants and the petty first-time traffickers.

In the estimation of the drug couriers and their sponsors, the stimulus for remaining in the business is far more gratifying than pulling out of the trade. In the hard drug business, resistance is simply useless.

Why did some Nigerians maintain their business in hard drugs in the face of the death penalty? There are many reasons, some of them sociological and others psychological, physiological and economic. Some people perceive involvement in illegal drugs as the gateway to instant wealth and fame. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps they are wrong. Some others believe that trafficking in illicit substances would offer them some kind of cathartic relief from economic hardships and other social problems.

The facts speak for themselves. There are people in our society who became rich because they successfully organised a couple of successful illegal drug runs across some countries. These nouveau-rich Nigerians relish celebration which is driven by a large appetite for ostentatious lifestyle. They love to make merry to mark their new-found status. In no time, our cities were lit with celebrations. Streets were shut haphazardly so that the new members of the millionaires' club could enjoy their riches, even if the celebrations constituted public nuisance. Across town, the message was being delivered to everyone. It pays to be rich.

The young ones looked and liked what they saw. If you want to be recognised and respected in the society, you have to be rich, very rich. The society didn't care how you made your money. What mattered was whether you were affluent, not how you got that money.

In no time, the nation started to drift toward the worship of criminals. We were witnessing the beginning of the end of the social fabric that held our society together. Across towns and communities, religious institutions and leaders scrambled to enter the kingdom of the rich. Churches rolled out red carpets for the prosperous members of our society. Front row seats were reserved for members of the millionaires' club. Some of them were allowed to preach to the congregation about the virtues of hard work. How ironic? In a short time, the religious institutions have shifted from preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. In its place has emerged the gospel of the kingdom of the rich.

At various prayer meetings, pastors, priests and bishops sold the message that God loved and still loves a cheerful giver, particularly those who give thousands of naira. Implicit in that instruction is the notion that the kingdom of God is reserved solely for those who can afford it. What about the poor? Well, let's spit out the truth, the kingdom of God is not for the poor. The new message -- take it or leave it -- is that the rich shall inherit the kingdom and the poor shall be consigned to perpetual anguish.

As the basic doctrines of the church were abused and abandoned, so did our traditional institutions sink to a new level. Chieftaincy titles were contrived as the backdoor through which traditional rulers sought to enter the kingdom of the rich. Non-existent chieftaincy titles were manufactured and conferred on men and women of questionable character, not because the recipients had distinguished themselves in service to their community but because they had successfully enticed traditional leaders with reserves of buckets of local and foreign currency. Chieftaincy titles are now open to the highest bidders.

The abuse of chieftaincy titles was completed the moment traditional rulers began to confer titles arbitrarily on crooks, ex-convicts, murderers, politicians and big time criminals. The guardians of our traditional institutions have become the wreckers of our values. Chieftaincy titles have lost their significance and worth in many communities.

Each time we wonder how we got to this point, we must reflect on our past and present practices. What were those qualities that held our society together? What social values were cherished and admired in our society? To what extent are they still valued and respected? Like culture, social values are supposed to be dynamic but the social disintegration of our society must be attributed in part to the haste with which we dumped our values. A society without values is a normless society. And a society without norms is a dysfunctional society. In our society, yesterday's social values have become today's relics.

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle7633=encodeURIComponent(A society t...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 08.02.2008 00:14