By Toyyib Omowale
Behind every developing community is a workforce known as the youths. Youths according to UNICEF are persons between the age of 18 to 40, and teenagers are between the age of 10 to 19. In a situation where the teen who should still be under the watch of the three main agents of socialisation namely the family, school, and religious institution has become a major setback for the sustainable development growth of the community, then there is perhaps real fire on the mountain. This I must say is the perfect description of Ikire community in Osun State.
There is a menace that has eaten deeply into the heart of young teenagers in the community which is the public smoking of cannabis known as Indian hemp (Igbo). The intake of hard drugs is a major cause of crime and criminality within the Irewole/Isokan Local Government Axis of Osun State. Teens who should by law be under the guardianship of their parents have become thugs, disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the community.
In the just concluded Osun state gubernatorial poll, these teens under the influence of drugs attacked polling units in the community and after the declaration of the result, took to the streets where some were caught in mortal combats with one another before the police could intervene. There is a clamour for a state of emergency in the community because there is hardly a week without a threat to lives and property from teens whose parents could no longer control.
The police division in the community is indeed trying their best, but the only solution to ending the smoking of Indian hemp and other allied crime and criminality in the council area is if the government can help bring a military base to the community. As the popular Nigerian saying goes, “The fear of Soldiers is the beginning of wisdom”. This I believe will curb and reduce criminality in the community.
- Toyyib, is a final year undergraduate of the Department of Linguistics and Communication Studies, Osun State University.