It is cheap, accessible and easy to make. For N120, anybody can buy a 100ml bottle of ‘Goskolo’, a locally brewed alcoholic gin that is forcing youths in Plateau State into chains of slavery. Lower denominations can buy even smaller quantities.
David Barry, 34, is popularly known as Davido around Goskolo joints in Tudun Wada, Jos North council area. He is also a long-time slave to goskolo he’s been drinking since 1992. It started from a few sips shared with an older girlfriend, Ngozi from Apata, Jos. Davido now takes nearly two litres a day.
He knocks on Goskolo shop doors as early as 4am to get a bottle. By 7am, he is stoned. He only got up to JS1 before he was expelled from school, but he speaks good English, and he’s proud of that talent.
Dirty, in a grey T-shirt and black unzipped trousers, Davido speaks with confidence. At some points, he stares into the distance, mentally removed from the surrounding shops at the complex where he sat for this interview.
Minutes later, he stumbles to answer an earlier question but what comes out from his mouth is a nauseating stench of alcohol that forces the interviewer to frequently push her seat backward.
A few thing stand out at first meeting with Davido: his clothes are dirty, his eye is bulged with a fresh scar. He calls it a “Goskolo mark” he received on Christmas Day.
“I had money on Christmas morning so I bought Goskolo in the largest Swan water bottle, I took half of it and by 7am, I bought tom-tom to mask the smell and went to church. After church, I drank the remaining Goskolo. When I started to feel hot and wanted to go for a swim. I saw the big rock around Abuja road in Tudun Wada and thought it was water and dived in. The rock deceived me, I thought it was water,” he said.
For many years, the battle against goskolo by politician, religious and community leaders in Plateau has been unwavering but unsuccessful. Former governor Jonah Jang tried to restrict bars and beer parlours in hopes of scuttling Goskolo trade. Those in the business claimed the gin was legal and resisted him.
Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency has maintained that Goskolo and other locally brewed alcoholic drinks are classified as alcoholic drinks which are not illegal therefore could do little about prosecuting manufacturers. Only a state law banning goskolo production can give law enforcement agents backing to ensure strict compliance, said Plateau State NDLEA Commandant, Dr. Ngozi Madubuike.
Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama and community leaders in Plateau called for legislation last May to regulate production, sales and distribution of alcohol and other abusive substances, especially Goskolo, insisting it would drastically reduce the frightening problem which posed a challenge to peace and security in the state.
This is why Governor Simon Bako Lalong’s statement a few weeks ago declaring war against Goskolo was greeted with commendation. He spoke about different strategies to fight Goskolo, which is destroying young lives-including drug abuse preventive education, the arrest and prosecution as well as counselling and rehabilitation of users through the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare.
He might succeed where others have failed, as he wants to fight Goskolo by sponsoring an executive bill to establish a law banning Goskolo production, sale and distribution, according to his Media and Publicity Special Adviser Dan Manjang.
If this is achieved, youths like Gyang Bitrus who are struggling from the withdrawal of Goskolo say it will help them live their lives without the temptation of relapse.
He has been battling withdrawal from Goskolo for more than a year.
“Sometimes I still take it, but it is not as bad as before. Goskolo is far stronger than the average alcohol, it is a spirit drink but locally made at home by some people and it does not go through the right process of gin production. Someone just sits in his house to produce it with ethanol, water, then add flavour to mimic the taste of brandy or a popular processed gin and then they sometimes add colour to make it a little brownish.”
He said he now dilute a 100ml bottle of Goskolo with a bottle of soft drink. “It is harsh but most people don’t dilute it. I mix it to make it less concentrated but even at that, I get high within 15 minutes but when you don’t dilute it, it takes effect within two to three minutes.”
The graduate of electrical engineering at the Plateau State Polytechnic said though he now takes the drink only once or twice a month, the attraction for most youths is that they are deceived into thinking that while mixing Goskolo, manufacturers add some herbs such as Dogonyaro (neem) leaves which to them makes the drink medicinal.
Goskolo is only one street name for the gin. Others are more telling: Kill Me Quick, Die Young, Quick Action, Ojuju Road.
Because Goskolo is mostly found in beer joints, our correspondent connived with a colleague, Yohanna Musa who went into one of the shops at a place called ‘border’ in Tudun Wada, to buy the gin.
‘Border’ as the name implies is notorious for the production, sale and marketing of alcoholic drinks including fake and illegal substances as well as other locally brewed drinks such as ‘Burkutu and Pito which are made from guinea corn and Ogogoro usually brought in from mostly the south-south.
Yohana described the shop as a small local bar with four benches that could accommodate at least four persons and stools in the middle. He said he had asked for Goskolo and the shop owner who was sitting among six other consumers of gin quickly got up and went behind the bar.
For N120 each, Yohanna bought two bottles of 100ml Goskolo drinks; one a sealed bottle known as Officer’s Cane spirit and a second bottle known simply as ‘mix.’
Officer’s Cane spirit is in a sealed 100ml blue bottle. The name is printed boldly on its label of blue, white and gold.
This spirit though also regarded as Goskolo has a NAFDAC registration number No: 08-0325 and is manufactured by REDBERG Industries Ltd at Km 38, Abeokuta Expressway, Sango Otta, Ogun State. Its ingredients include demineralised water, ethanol, and tropical flavour, and it has 42% alcoholic content.
The ‘mix’ on the other hand is clear and comes in an unsealed bottle giving the impression that its content must have been poured from another container. While Officer’s Cane spirit smells of a pleasant flavour with a harsh undertone, the mix smells of methylated spirit used in hospitals.
“The advice for anybody thinking of experimenting with Goskolo is, do not start,” said Bitrus. “Once you start, you will not be able to stop, I am lucky but I can tell you many have died; some are my friends.”
The first drink comes with an alarming hangover the next morning, Gyang says.
“You cannot eat anything and even when you force yourself to eat; you will surely throw it all up. There is this feeling that it is only another shot of Goskolo that will give you some relief and truthfully you will get the relief once you take it but the next morning you will wake up worse than before and before you know it, you are hooked on to it, gradually you become emaciated.”
Long-time Goskolo drinker David Barry buys Goskolo at “Border”. He calls it “Ojuju Road”.
“For me, it is always take-away, all the Goskolo shops are named after Goskolo nickname, if you want to buy “’kill me quick’, go to Ustaz’s shop, ‘die young’ is Joe’s place and ‘bury me easy’ is Mummy Sam’s place.”
Davido, a trained mechanic and gardner says he lost his gardening job after he killed a white woman’s cat under the influence of Goskolo. “The cat disrespected me, I had kept my shirt somewhere while I worked, the cat went out to excrete but came back to my shirt to urinate, the cat knew what it was doing so I caught it and hit it on the pavement until it died and they fired me.”
A member of vigilante in Tudun Wada, Rotgi Sati said the community has tried to stop the prevalence of Goskolo but it has been difficult.
“Sometime in the past we had a rally and locked all the Goskolo joints and asked the producers to leave but they returned. No matter how we try they will still return because they are making a lot of profit. In fact, they came with their lawyer to say that it is not illegal and that they are not forcing anyone to buy,” Sati said.
Tudun wada along with Gada biyu, Anguwan Rukuba, Wholshe areas are known to be notorious Goskolo centres in Jos, said Sati who explained that some of the consumers had been employed but due to heavy consumption of goskolo, they had gradually withdrawn from their jobs and are now willing to trade whatever they lay their hands on to buy Goskolo.
“They will steal your rice, sugar or pot of food and trade it for a N50 bottle of Goskolo. You will never see a Goskolo consumer with a phone, he will trade it for a bottle of Goskolo,” said Sati
