By John Danjuma Omachonu
Nigeria’s worsening cost of living, driven by high unemployment, soaring food prices, and stagnant incomes, among others may be pushing a growing number of young people toward hard drugs as a form of temporary relief, MetroBusinessNews, (MBN)’s ‘From The Street’ investigations and interactions have found.
The investigation revealed that many youths in urban centers are turning to substances like tramadol, codeine, cannabis and ither harmful substances to cope with daily frustrations and uncertainty about the future.
For some, drug use has become a way to numb hunger, joblessness, and the pressure to meet family expectations.
Analysts warn that if current economic conditions persist, the country could face a surge in mental health challenges within the next 3 to 5 years. They predict higher rates of depression, anxiety, and severe psychiatric disorders, stressing that the long-term social and healthcare costs could outweigh the immediate economic crisis.
Experts are calling for urgent government intervention through job creation, targeted social support, and expanded access to mental health services to break the cycle before it escalates further.
The resultant lack of diet, resulting from erosion of purchasing power is also worsening the health conditions of the lower and middle classes, even as there is a thin line of demarcation, with lower class emerging.
For instance, the country’s headline inflation rose to 15.93% in May, driven primarily by an acceleration in food inflation to 16.96% year-on-year.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, surging costs for staple produce, elevated transportation expenses, and security challenges in agricultural regions are squeezing household budgets.
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Also, the level of impunity and display of affluence by elected and appointed government officials and top civil servants have become reference points to most youth that hardwork nolonger pays in the country.
This is why current efforts by the senate to enact stronger laws to tackle the rising drug abuse is considered by some Nigerians as ‘medicine after death.’
The Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics has pledged stronger legislative backing for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) as part of efforts to tackle rising drug abuse and trafficking in Nigeria.
The commitment was made on Monday during a courtesy visit by the committee’s Chairman, Senator Joseph Ikpea, to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
Ikpea said the Senate would support the agency with laws and policy reforms aimed at strengthening drug control, expanding rehabilitation programmes, and intensifying awareness campaigns targeting young people.
He said the visit was also to build a closer partnership with the NDLEA and better understand ongoing efforts to combat drug abuse across the country.
But most Nigerians say the presemt law makers have not impacted positively on the lives of Nigerians through the enabling legislations, but rather ‘self-seeking and hasty approvals of bills of interest to the executive and theirs’, without proper scrutiny.
Further investigations have shown that thousands of workers particularly, the junior and middle level cadrers have fallen back on their retirement savings for immediate survival, with more than N12 billion withdrawn from pension accounts by unemployed contributors in just three months, according to BusinessDay report.
Data released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) shows that 8,082 workers who lost their jobs accessed a combined N12.11 billion from their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) in the fourth quarter of 2025.
This is in line with a provision in the Pension Reform Act 2014, which allows contributors who have been unemployed for at least four months to withdraw up to 25 percent of their pension balances.
A breakdown of the data further reveals that workers from the private sector accounted for the overwhelming majority of withdrawals. About 96 percent of those who accessed their pension funds after job loss came from private sector employment, while only four percent were from the public sector.
The trend underscores the vulnerability of private sector workers to economic disruptions, business closures, downsizing and restructuring exercises that have intensified across several industries as companies grapple with rising operating costs, currency volatility and weak consumer spending.
Some analysts say, while the withdrawal provision offers temporary relief to displaced workers, they warn that repeated reliance on retirement savings for immediate consumption could undermine long-term retirement security.
They further observe that the rising number of unemployed contributors accessing pension funds reflects broader economic realities facing Nigerian households. With inflation continuing to erode purchasing power and many families struggling to meet basic living expenses, retirement savings are increasingly becoming emergency funds rather than long-term financial security instruments.