Nigeria’s growing cocaine market
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Font size: Published 11/07/2010 20:46:00 234Next


Late last month, a young lady, identified only as Zainab, headed for a spot where hard drugs are sold on Aminu Kano Crescent in Wuse II, a district in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. At the spot, which also doubles as a petrol station, Zainab sold a BlackBerry phone, worth at least N60,000, for N2,000. She was in need of a quick fix and with N2,000, Zainab could buy about 0.25grammes, a little more than a pinch, of cocaine. There are many of such markets in Abuja and Zainab is just one of the growing population of young Nigerians who are addicted to cocaine.

Latest statistics from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) show that between 2004 and now, Nigerian nationals have not only become involved in the international illicit drug trade but that there has been a rapid rise in the use of drugs, especially cocaine. The UNODC believes that the increase is directly linked to the high level of corruption in the country.
Becoming a major player
It has now been established that Nigeria is an active player in the $6.8billion West- African cocaine market. The country serves as a major route through which cocaine is trafficked from Columbia, the main hub of cocaine production, to the 4.5 million users in Europe.
Nigeria is also considered an active retailer as well as a small scale importer of the illicit drug.
The West-African market began blooming from 2004 as drug dealers in Columbia sought for safer routes to move illicit substances to a budding market in Europe. With US authorities coming down hard on the largest drug market in the world, the North American drug market, West Africa, with its numerous sea ports and weak law enforcement, quickly became a thriving alternate route to move cocaine to the European market.
“Shipments to Africa, mostly West Africa gained in importance between 2004 and 2007, resulting in the emergence of two key trans-shipment hubs, one centered in the Bight of Benin, which spans from Ghana to Nigeria,” the 2010 World Drug Report from the UNODC states.
The Nigerian traffickers
Although insufficient and unreliable data make it impossible to correctly analyse the trend in the Nigerian drug market, indicators, such as seizures at the airports and borders show that Nigerians are increasingly becoming key players in the delivery of illicit drugs, especially cocaine, to the European market.
In April 2010, at least 21 persons were arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in relation with cocaine trafficking. The agency also says that it has seized about 71kg of cocaine, worth over N600 million, at the airport in the first quarter of 2010.
This is indicative of a surge in cocaine trafficking to mainly European countries from Nigeria. A staff of Arik Air, a Nigerian carrier which also flies international routes, confirmed to NEXT that a large number of Nigerians caught for drug peddling were mostly headed to Europe.
“Most of them are usually going to London or to Italy,” our source, who sought anonymity, said.
In international circles, an increasing number of Nigerian citizens are being arrested for trafficking cocaine into or within European countries. UNODC reports that 2009 data from the various countries show about 700 Nigerians were arrested in four European countries: Spain, Italy, France, and Germany, for cocaine trafficking.

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