By Ebenezer Adurokiya
Weeds are, denotatively, wild plants allowed to grow in a garden or field where it is not wanted. Why are our youths giving a chance to cannabis to grow in their mind and brain?
WEED! Weed!! Weed!!! Some call it cannabis. Some call it marijuana. The Yoruba gave it a peculiar name: igbo (forest or shrubs). Everywhere we go, it’s weeds—yes, the smoking of weeds. As it is in Ibadan, so it is in Warri. I’m worried. I’m worried! The smoking cuts across age groups, and at times, gender. Yes, our ladies also smoke!
Behind where I live in Barika—Barika is situated almost opposite the second gate of the University of Ibadan. It’s about a three-minute walk. Barika is relatively modern. Decrepit structures are giving way to urban renewal. But some shades of the relics of the past still subsist.
Behind the perimeter fence of my house of four flats is a bungalow that can only be identified by its rust! Remember JP Clark’s poem Ibadan? That, succinctly, captures my description. Imposing itself upon the rustic, corrugated iron roof is a pest of shrubs crawling forcefully over it. Beneath it are youths in their 20s and 30s, coming for their regular—weed smoking. Between 6:30 a.m. and sometimes 11:00 a.m., they drink, smoke, and chat eerily about the previous night’s escapades. Often, you hear the voices of their messengers, usually ladies, who sell the paraga and marijuana to the boys.
My flat is on the upper floor of the second block of two flats, with the joint directly behind. Unless I remain indoors, the ceaseless spiral of marijuana smoke cascades in, invading my privacy through the windows. Sometimes, I resort to relocating to another room or simply shutting the windows—if IBEDC is gracious! Or what do I do? Report them to the law enforcement agents? That could be suicidal. As I pen this piece, though not currently in Ibadan, the boys are on their usual spot, engaged in their ruinous pastime. So it is across other cosy spots in Agbowo and beyond!
Now, as it is in Ibadan, so it is happening in Warri. My office is along Ginuwa Street, Warri-Sapele Road. Waffi nor dey carry last. As I write, behind my office is a welder who appears to me as the host of the smokers. Perhaps I should add that I can’t remember the last time I saw a stick of cigarette between the fingers of a smoker! It’s out of fashion. What sells—or rather, what’s in vogue and the easiest to find—is marijuana, cleverly wrapped in white paper and straightened to resemble a cigarette. I suspect the points at which these wraps are sold are coded, but I’ve sighted the welder behind my office doing the wrapping—of course, in broad daylight, with kids pacing around. I’ve learnt that the kids run errands for them.
Like in Ibadan, perhaps worse, the offensive smoke of this substance is a regular visitor to my office through the back window! Morning, afternoon, and night, you’ll find big boys seated in the welder’s workshop, smoking and drinking away their destinies. As I do in Ibadan, I either take flight or shut the louvre windows when the invasion starts. In Warri, much more than in Ibadan, these guys smoke the substance everywhere—by the roadside, in restaurants, in spots where agbo (herbal concoctions) is sold—just anywhere.
From statistics, Nigeria has one of the highest rates of drug abuse in Africa, with an estimated 14.3 million people aged 15–64 years using psychoactive substances. Isn’t this alarming? I also gathered that as of 2025, the top five countries in the (ab)use of cannabis include: Papua New Guinea leading with 29.5 per cent, Canada 26 per cent, Palau 24.2 per cent, the United States 21.9 per cent, and Ghana 21.5 per cent (source: https://worldpopulationreview.com).
Nigeria’s drug prevalence rate, according to the NDLEA, is alarming—15 per cent—almost triple the global rate of 5.5 per cent (NDLEA Today, 2021).
And what are the aftereffects? I can tell you that the welder behind my office in Warri is showing signs of mental regression. He’s not quite normal. From my personal observation over the years, most mentally deranged individuals in this oil-rich city are youths—both male and female. Yet, many more are being initiated into the pastime, especially teenagers.
I have only used my firsthand illustrations of Ibadan and Warri to underline the menace of hard drugs—especially cannabis or marijuana—across Nigeria and among the Nigerian populace, particularly at a time when hardship has taken a front row in our society.
How do we discourage our young minds from abusing igbo (forest), only to wander and pander among the dead.
Weeds are, denotatively, wild plants allowed to grow in a garden or field where it is not wanted. Why are our youths giving a chance to cannabis to grow in their mind and brain?
– Adurokiya writes from Warri, Delta State
