Goskolo is a dangerous local gin that has emerged on the Plateau, with many youths addicted to it in the desire to be ‘high’ or transmute into a higher realm. This silent killer has sent many to untimely graves as the community looks helpless in curbing the trend.
David Sunday sat with bulgy red eyes, with lower lip gazing around and trying hard not to fall asleep. Clad in a dirty yellow striped T. shirt and stained blue jeans, it was obvious the 27-year-old was under the influence of something. His incoherent speech, the slow gestures with his hands and the nauseous smell that oozed from his body readily gave him away.
Obviously Sunday was one of the numerous youths in the state addicted to the popular gin called goskolo. Based on a price, he simply acceded to a request for interview on the local gin. he agreed to be conveyed to a ‘neutral’ ground where he jumbled his barely audible words in confession to his loyalty to goskolo.
Sunday’s first utterance was “call me Sky B”; and added, “are you asking to know or do you want to take goskolo?” By the end of this short encounter, Sky B was swearing and making promises never to touch the gin again. But later in the day, he broke his vows and was at his usual Tudun Wada joint.
Goskolo is presently causing havoc in Plateau State and unlike other popular local alcoholic drinks, such as burukutu or pito, people claimed goskolo is more dangerous, because it contains both ethanol found in other alcoholic drinks and methanol which is a chemical known to be dangerous to the human body. It is the same methanol that experts claim is the main ingredient for making embalmment fluids along with ethanol and formaldehyde.
Weekly Trust investigations reveal that average non-users of goskolo in Plateau State claim that the drink is usually mixed with chemicals used on corpses. Friday Ephraim said during a recent rally by non-users of the gin and other harmful substances on Rukuba road described goskolo as “a chemical mixture used in preserving dead bodies.”
When in 2007 Governor Jonah Jang, on assumption of office launched a campaign against the heavy consumption of alcohol and restricted the activities of bars and beer parlours in the state, many especially youths and women greeted the restriction with negative feelings. The Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang had also in February this year blamed women in the state who prepare local alcoholic drinks for being responsible for the insecurity in the state.
He said most of the unlicensed beer parlours were being operated by indigenes of the state; a situation which he said was getting youths drunk and vulnerable to social misconducts. Women in Kuru had booed the paramount ruler for making the utterance, but many now see Governor Jang and the Gbong Gwom’s intervention as a clear and timely approach to checkmating the high consumption of alcohol by citizens of the state and the present high death rate attributed to goskolo consumption among youths.
Weekly Trust investigations revealed that the major flash points where goskolo is consumed include Tudun wada (Anguwan Miyango) Anguwan Rukuba, Eto baba, Congo Russia, Kabong (Gada Biyu). These areas are a haven for beer parlours and further investigations revealed that those who sell goskolo are usually from the south eastern part of the country who secretly market the gin to loyal users.
“Those who sell goskolo usually do not drink the gin,” said Kafayas Adang, a father of three, adding that “and most of those who sell goskolo are Igbos from the south eastern part of the country, because it is brought into Jos from there,” he added.
Bulus Ibrahim a non-user of the gin from Anguwan Rukuba, during a rally against the consumption and sale of the gin spearheaded by a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly representing Jos North-nNorth, Hon. Ibrahim Baba Hassan said “goskolo is also called ogogoro in other parts of the country, but the ogogoro is brought to Plateau state from mostly the south eastern part of the country, especially Warri.”
He said ”it is then remixed with other chemicals to make it stronger and hot! This is what transforms the regular ogogoro to goskolo.” With the death of many youths now attributed to the consumption of goskolo, Joshua Amaki, the youth leader of the community during the rally said “we have resolved to do away with goskolo, because it has caused a lot of problems in our society and has taken the lives of many of our youths. It has rendered others weak and useless.”
The rally which had included elders of the community who went from shop to shop in search of the harmful gin and destroyed any found, also took place in Gada Biyu community. Hon. Hassan also expressed concern about the consumption of goskolo, saying “it is unacceptable that many of the youths in our constituency are losing their lives to this gin. The youths must understand that goskolo does not only have a negative effect on their health, but also leads to social vices.”
Hon. Hassan and the youths in these communities had tasked the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to apprehend the sellers of the drugs. However, as many people continue to expect a massive action from the state office of the NDLEA , Bello Mumini, the Principal Staff Officer, Drug Demand Reduction Unit of the Plateau State Command who applauded the rallies, explained that “what is needed is a legislation against the consumption of goskolo.”
Mumini said “goskolo is termed as a socially acceptable drug and this means that it is something that is embedded in culture or tradition, because it falls within the range of alcohol and alcohol is not frowned at in the society. However, now that the society has noticed the consequences of goskolo especially on the Plateau, it is causing a lot of havoc, people are dying and the development in the state has retarded because of this goskolo .”
He said “in fact, one of the factors of insecurity in the state may be attributed to the intake of goskolo, since it is a psychoactive drug that acts on the human mind and a mind altering drug. What we are saying is that the law makers must make a law against the sale and consumption of this gin so that we can arrest and prosecute them.”
A practical experiment revealed that goskolo smells like methylated spirit and ignites when it comes into contact with fire while the methanol burns with a bluish flame.
David, an addict of goskolo claimed that youths died from the consumption of goskolo, because addicts do not feed well, admitting that the gin has the tendency of suppressing the appetite of users. He had insisted “I take it all the time and I am still alive, so all those who are dying, die because they don’t eat before taking it. So nothing will happen to me.”
Bulus Ibrahim said the way forward for “goskolo users for them to be uprooted from their environment and rehabilitated as addicts.
“They are so desperate that a few months ago one user sold their family dog for just N300, so that he could buy and drink goskolo, because the drink is sold cheaply,” he added.
weekly trust
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