SPEECH OF NANSSA PRESIDENT - COMRADE EKWEALOR CHINEDU THOMAS

By Comrade Ekwealor Chinedu Thomas

[ Comrade Ekwealor Chinedu Thomas is President of National Association of Nigerian Students in South Africa (NANSSA) - His speech was at a joint anti-drug campaign by the ANC Youth League and NANSSA. ]

COMRADE EKWEALOR CHINEDU THOMAS’ SPEECH:

In the name of all the martyrs, heroes and heroines of our never ending struggle to create a better society for all, I welcome you all to this august occasion. We are here for a partnership campaign against drug trading and consumption in South Africa. It is evident enough that, from the anal history of the African National Congress Youth League ANCYL and the National Association of Nigerian Students in South Africa NANSSA, that this partnership programme is first of its kind in our era. In the spirit of this reality therefore, we call on every body here present and those who are at home never to toy with this exceptional opportunity but to use what we would learn to make amends for good in our lives and that of neighbours by taking our destiny into our respective hands from today.

With deep sense of humility and respect, NANSSA congratulates the ANCYL of the Pietermaritzburg branch operating from the University of Kwazulu Natal for accepting to carry out this programme with us, without your collaboration we would not have been here today. However, today we concern ourselves with the issues of drug trade, consumption and its bi-product in South African society and environs. At present drug issues has no news worthiness primarily because everybody seems to have a balanced view on the topic. More also, it is no longer news worthy that people from abroad including Nigerians are drug peddlers in south Africa while South Africans are regrettably look upon as innocent drug consumers. Our message is that, the manufacturers are still unidentified and nameless. The above lack the due weight not only because the members of the fourth estate of the realm (the media) in this state have used the principle of interpretative journalism that lacks the essential investigative part of the discipline to bombard the ordinary people, but also both interpretative and investigative reports do not deal with the source of the problem and also in my understanding lack target audience. My question today is who should be the target audience in any attempt to do away with drug in a given society among the producers, peddlers and consumers? Is it the manufacturer, the buyer or the seller, I leave you with the question and suggest that you figure out the answer by yourself.

We are not here to point fingers. But we are saying that consumers, manufacturers and traders are actors at play and that all these parties involved must work together in order to secure a drug free environment. If all concerned are not willing to let go, the stranglehold of drug in the lives of the victims will never expire. The economic terms demand and supply besides capital are the life blood of any business transaction in any country of the world whether colonised or not. So the investigative journalism that places the beam light on the peddlers of commodities alone but failed woefully to thoroughly investigate and solicit the support of manufacturers and consumers in order to root out an outlandish commodity in a given system is not yet ready to bring about the needed change. Special assignment of 22nd January 2008 on SABC 3 and the ‘Dinner with Mr. President’ of 24th January on SABC 2 are subtle evidences that lend credence to our claim that no meaningful head-way can be made unless the drug manufacturers and especially consumers are ready to make genuine sacrifices and concessions needed to create an enabling environment that can render the middle man out of work by drying up the drug supply.

The general saying that he who keeps quiet in the eyes of tyranny and oppression, that he himself is a typical oppressor and a well-meaning tyrant is one of the points that informed our opinion as NANSSA to engage in this programme. Today, South African streets are inundated with spiral of violent murder, crime and the like because some natives have gone into a Catholic marriage with drug.

Drug peddling and consumption are considered issues of global concern, as such it is never unmatched in our setting but most unfortunate that the number of teenagers and youth who consume drug, see it, as a necessary ingredient for gallantry, and a means of pain relief. Courage as a virtue is a gift of God to human kind. To others who hide under the umbrella of pain relief, it is my joy to inform you that the only pain you have is being an addict and its cure is to give up drug intake.

I am particularly amazed at the rate teenagers and youth shamelessly sabotage and cripple state’s effort to record even a single successful campaign against drug abuse in the country. In spite of the inexhaustible material, financial and human resources the South African government invests in the drug campaign, teenagers and youth have constantly make caricature of the state by sporadically using the best and expensive water pipes in high schools. Your counterparts in most African countries do not have and never enjoyed the romance and privileges you derive from your state in their respective states, but they abide by the law. Decide today who and what you want to be, a person or a nuisance? The choice is yours!

I am not sure whether we have any drug candidate in this gathering, but it appears to me that if there is any, that he or she would have some doubts in his or her mind about our claims that drug kills; because we are troubling his or her comfort zone. However, it is with deep sense of unassuming nature, that, I want to further declare to you that he/she, who doubts the alternation of day and night, has the burden of proof to bear. The day is here, you are here, and the time for change is now. As a teenager or youth who is consuming drug you are only destroying your future and exposing your parents to the shock of an untimely death in the family. Learn to save your parent from the agony of loosing you without you giving anything back to reciprocate their love for you. You can start today by not taking drug tonight. It is in this light that you would know that any day without drug is a day well lived and any day well lived is a dream of happiness of every yesterday and a vision of hope of every tomorrow.

On the occasion of World No Tobacco and Substance Abuse Awareness Day on 11 August, 2007 in Limpopo, Minister of Health (Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang) decried drug abuse and these are her words, “the negative impact of drug abuse is eroding many of the gains we have made as a country”, this directly translates that South African government does not need drug peddling and consumption in South Africa, as such its availability is a violation of state’s law. But many teenagers and youth have either relegated that provision to the dustbin or deliberately given themselves to anarchy and lawlessness in their morbid craze for money and the exercise of freedom in the new South Africa. Drug consumers in the present day South Africa have not yet met with their 1994 democratic breakthrough in this state, simply because they are still slaves of drug.

The argument that if drug is not peddled that there would be no consumers is one of the tripod pillars upon which our concern as NANSSA is tightly built. Our knowledge that there is no supply without demand will never be defended in this gathering. However, taking into account that drug life is a tragic option and can never be a preferred alternative to any choice, National Association of Nigerian Students in South Africa, hereby categorically states: that presence of drug in any social environment is a social aberration. That drug involves decimation of human lives and a systematic extermination of human values. That our interest is central, to a peaceful environment and general wellbeing of all concern which must be motivated by genuine commitments found within the confines of the guiding rules and laws of the state. At this height, we call on all the right thinking minds, senior citizens and morally rich Nigerian residents in South Africa to advise the alleged insignificant number of Nigerians in the illegal economy of drug to take a deep breath and bring oddities to a great halt.

In a similar vein, it is our considered view that other countries should do exactly same. To the resident consumers, the syndrome of ‘I ‘ve got a right’ which reigns terror among youth and teenagers is today a pervasive culture, and the dignity of human person is through that route consigned to the winds. Use your will power and moral fibre to address your deep-seated problems, knowing that right goes with duties, civic obligations and responsibilities.

Beautiful and well intentioned as our programme might be, our efforts will amount to nothingness if you fail to live with the consciousness that you are one of the leaders of today and a public office holder of tomorrow. Know also that drug addicts are not qualified to manage either people or resources in our present day societies. They blatantly drop out of school in most cases and follow drug to their respective graves. Some, who refused death but had no academic qualification, constitute the proud members of Crime Republic. At this juncture, we appreciate the support of the department of education for the success of this gathering informed by learners’ physical presence.

Without dillydallying we observed with keen interest and viewed with pathetic sight that this gruesome development of drug ingestion in the lives and times of teenagers and youth sometimes start at schools. With a profound sense of sorrow we want to mention that faulty educational system that has intentionally or unintentionally replaced tea-break with drug-break can only produce faulty minds. Our understanding is that, persons who have a faulty upbringing are likely to grow up perverted adults. In this spirit therefore, educational system across the nine provinces especially in drug zones should be re-empowered through a programme of re-orientation with the view to permanently weigh down or methodically eliminate drug and its related, in schools.

NANSSA is of the opinion that some of the routes out of this arena of shame are: (i) that corporal punishment must be valued in primary and high schools (ii) that parents be allowed to discharge their parental duty to punish their children’s wrongdoing (iii) that moral instruction against drug consumption be integrated into learners curriculum which must be taught at every morning assembly and at dismissal (iv) that video clips of drug victims be shown to the learners from time to time, as counselling alone could never be relied upon to realise this human development project. It is pertinent to note here, that some parents and guardians may not be aware of drug dangerous trend in their children’s lives while others who may know about this unfortunate and clandestine life style erroneously assume that it is a consequence of peer pressure that will die a natural death. We are saying that your assumption in itself is false, untrue and indeed misleading. The longer you allow the natural death to come the more room you give to the hawk that wants to hijack your child’s life to mature. Let me painfully remind you that soon the hawk is grown, it will hijack the life of your child and take to the air with it.

So in order to avoid being buried by vultures, and avert cowardly sacrificing our lives on the altar of ignorance let us resolve today in this gathering to collectively re-kindle the spirit of self-help efforts in our communities, schools, churches and other institutions with the appreciation that drug consumption can make us socially handicapped, economically wrecked, psychologically maimed and patriotically drained. Say NO to drug and determine your pace.

Long live National Association of Nigerian Students in South Africa
Long live African National Congress Youth League Campaign

Aluta Continua! Victoria Acerta!!

Thank you all and God Bless!!!