In Nigeria, we don’t often like to speak of death. We are either screeching ‘God forbid o!’ at the top of our lungs (translate into any of the hundreds of languages in Nigeria if you want) or looking at whoever the speaker is with such venom.

But really, if you had to play a sick-version of the Russian Roulette game that will allow you to pick how you could die, how would you want to go? Don’t look so appalled and before you start ‘forbidding’, pause, take a short breath and think. Thousands of young Nigerians play that dangerous “God-forbid” inducing game each day. If it’s not death by codeine, its death by crack cocaine. If it's not death by ‘trams,’ the funky name for Tramadol, it will be a single shot of heroin to the brain.

Young kids are inhaling Vitamin C powder! They are actually buying the harmless tablets, crushing it into powder or buying the powdered version in sachets! Why? It makes them feel ‘one kain’. That’s a 10-year-old speaking for his peers. Are we not haunting for death wishes ehn?! It’s like the village people of the country itself have started speed dialing youngsters.

An 11-year-old student in a public school in Surulere, Lagos, Mosope (real name withheld) said that the first time his 12-year-old best friend inhaled Vitamin C, the boy wouldn’t stop sneezing. By the 2nd time, it became more interesting for him, and he sniffs it every day.

Mosope’s best friend will almost certainly not stop there. Soon, the Vitamin C will not ‘get him there’ – to the point of ‘highness’. He will need something stronger which means that he will ‘graduate’ to more deadly substances – cocaine, heroin or maybe he will just burn faeces to inhale if he can’t afford it (the more expensive substance like cocaine or ‘loud’).

So, how are these people not carefully selecting how they would die? It’s a point-and-kill situation. Mosope was able to tell his story because the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP), an initiative led by MTN Nigeria, visited her school during one of their sessions. ASAP is speaking to thousands more whether on social media, in their schools or online, and many are listening. The message is very clear - we need to stop this death-wish that has taken over a lot of our young people.

Now, is the best time to let young people know that being clean and living a life free from drugs is not just possible, it is the one way to survive.

I don’t believe the Vitamin C story.
If the drug is harmless on a regular day it will do nothing but maybe injure nasal passages when inhaled.
The only thing a Vit C tablet will induce when inhaled is a sweet taste and nothing more.
Plus it’s mostly northerners who do those drug things not southerners.

How do I want to die?
In the most pain-free way possible.