Nigeria - National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2016-2017, First round

Version 1.0: Edited, anonymised dataset for public distribution

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health was conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It was funded by the European Union (EU) under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) as part of the UNODC implemented project, “Response to Drugs and Related Organised Crime in Nigeria”. The project aims to support Nigeria in fighting drug production, trafficking and use and improved access to quality drug prevention, treatment and care services in Nigeria.

This is the first comprehensive nationwide national drug use survey to be conducted in Nigeria. The survey has three components; the first is the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NHSDUH) conducted by NBS; the second aspect is the National Survey on Problem Drug Use (NSPDU) and the third aspect is the Key Informant Survey (KIS). The NSPDU and KIS were conducted by CRISA. The three aspects of the survey cover all 36 states of the Federation, as well as the Federal Capital Territory. During the National Household Survey, 38,850 households that spread across rural and urban areas were canvassed at respondents’ residences. Additionally, the NSPDU involved interviews with a total of 9,344 problem drug users across all 36 states of the Federation, as well as the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 2,787 persons were interviewed for the KIS.

Objectives of the survey:

-The main objective of the project is to strengthen the evidence based on drug use and drug crime which would be used for policy planning and implementation.

-The survey provides statistically-sound and policy-relevant data on the extent and pattern of drug use in Nigeria (i.e., lifetime, past 12 months and 30 days prevalence of drug use bytypes of substances and gender), the socio-demographic characteristics of drug users, their living conditions and other information such as gender, age, marital status, education and employment status. It also provides information on age of onset of drug use, frequency and pattern of use, high risk drug use as well as extent of drugs use, drug dependency, and sexual behavior among drug users.

Information from this survey will also serve as baseline data for tracking the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria, specifically Goal 3 to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” and Target 3.5 to strengthen prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.

It is our sincere hope and expectation that the results and the dataset from this survey will be used by the public most especially the policy-makers, planners, researchers, development partners and Non-Governmental Organisa?tions (NGOs) to formulate and monitor policies, programmes and strategies that help to develop targeted services for drug users and their families, with a focus on affordable easily accessible community-based approaches that will increase access to services for this under-served population and go a long way in addressing the issue of drug use in communities across the country.

Sample survey data [ssd]

Individual level