By Nigeria is struggling with a silent epidemic that threatens the heart of its youth. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), approximately 14.3 million Nigerians—nearly three times the global average—are actively using psychoactive substances. Among them, close to three million people suffer from severe drug dependence that requires urgent treatment.
Among this desperate multitude is a young man we’ll call Jide—a former “Yahoo Boy.” In an interview with an AfrikTimes reporter, Jide shared his harrowing experience with colos (a street term for a potent psychoactive mixture), a journey that reflects the country’s deepening drug crisis. His story reveals the true weight of addiction—the loss of fortune, the descent into despair, and the heartbreak of destroying the trust and respect of the family who once saw him as their pride.
Can you describe how you were first introduced to colos, and what effect it initially had on you that made you return to it?
I would say it’s peer pressure. It all started when I began making money from fraud in 2022, you know the lifestyle of yahoo boys right? Cash out, spend money on girls, go clubbing, smoke, drink etc. I used to smoke, but I’ve never taken colos before, I was introduced to it by one of my guys that has gone deep in it. He said “this one is not weed, it’ll pull another string in your brain entirely”. So I decided to take it, to be honest it felt good, I felt numb, I felt like everything around me was paused for a while, that moment I couldn’t think of any problem I was going through. It was more of an escape route to real life problems. Since then, it has become my ‘go to’ whenever I’m stressed.
What was the moment, where you realized your use had shifted from something recreational to something you genuinely needed to get through the day?
I said it earlier that it felt like an escape route from real life problems. I needed that numbness and quietness. My life was so full of lies and pressure that I couldn’t bear to be fully aware of. It was the only thing that made me free from all the lies and pressure. So whenever I’m stressed I take it to calm myself down. I started taking it regularly, to the extent that I can’t eat and sleep without taking colos. It got to the point that I couldn’t face the morning without it. If I don’t take it, I’ll be paranoid, my body starts shaking, that was when I realised that I no longer smoke it for pleasure or to relieve stress, I was using it just to be functional. I’m no longer in control and it became a terrible need for me to go through the day.
How did your addiction change your relationship with your family?
I usually describe my situation as the prodigal son because before I started fraud, I was living with my family. I used to fix solar panels, and I was making some money, but I was not satisfied with what I was earning due to peer pressure and greed. You know that feeling when your mates are using the latest phone and doing well for themselves but it feels like you are behind in life, that was what It felt like for me. So when I started fraud I didn’t go home again, I started staying with my guys, because my parents never supported me doing it. When I started making money from fraud, their complaints reduced because I was always sending money to them. I became their golden boy, most especially my mom, I bought them things, and I helped everyone. They saw me as a success, a big man. Everything went down the drain last year when my friends couldn’t accommodate me in our rented apartment, I wasn’t making enough money again so I couldn’t pay for it. I can’t go back to my parents house because of shame, so I started squatting with my elder sister who is married. I couldn’t stay long there too because my addiction made me start stealing. My sister informed my parents about it, even though they didn’t allow me to live with them, they took me to church, thinking if I’m in the house of God I’ll stop taking colos. I started sleeping in church, with people keeping a close watch on me, but that does not stop me from taking colos. I started stealing things in church to sell so I’ll be able to afford colos. People at the church began to notice things were missing, and they knew I was the one stealing so they informed my parents about it and told them they can’t continue to accommodate me again. I lived in the church for more than three months before my parents allowed me home since there’s nowhere else I can stay. I’ve lost the respect and regards everyone used to give me, to the extent that my younger sister that I’m older than with 8 years brings out a belt, telling me not to sleep on the same bed with her. They went from seeing me as their successful son and brother to seeing me as a devil in their house. The look in their eyes, when they finally understood that the addiction had finished me and was now finishing them, that is a pain I will carry forever. I broke their trust, I stole their peace, and I made them ashamed to call me their own. My addiction turned me into a stranger and an enemy to the people who loved me most.
What was the most painful loss for you: the money, the material wealth, or the trust and respect of your loved ones?
The most painful loss is the trust and the respect of my family. When I look at my mother and I see the hatred in her eyes instead of pride, that pain is deeper than any debt. When my younger siblings cross the road to avoid me because they are ashamed of what I became. The trust they gave me freely, I took it and I tore it to pieces with my own hands. I betrayed their love. That wound is not something that can heal. Losing the money left me broke, losing their trust left me empty. That is the true weight of addiction. It turns your loved ones into strangers, and that loss is permanent.
What was your rock-bottom moment, the point where you finally realized you had to seek help?
What message do you have for people who are struggling to stop the addiction of taking colos?
Even though I’m not fully healed from the addiction, I’m a better person now than who I used to be months ago. So to anyone who is fighting the addiction of colos, this is what I need you to hear, stop beating yourself up because you can’t just stop. Colos is not just a habit, it is a poison designed to steal your mind and your future, and it is stronger than your will of just stopping. You need to understand that the peace it gives you, that heavy quiet that stops the panic, is the biggest lie. The drug does not make your problems disappear, it only makes you forget them for a short period of time. You are trading a temporary, false quiet for a permanent, real disaster. You feel you have nothing left? That means you have nothing left to lose by calling out for help. Find just one person and tell them the truth, without shame. Let their love be the rope that pulls you out of the hole. You don’t have to quit for a year or a month right now, your only job is to get through the next hour without it. When the craving is too much, don’t sit still, walk, go and do something productive, pray, just move your legs and change your location until that urge passes. Your life is valuable, start fighting for that life today.
