Agbo consumption raises concern in Abuja [Details]

Agbo hawkers are now common in the territory

The consumption of locally brewed gin mixed with some herbs popularly called agbo is soaring in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Its high demand from the slums, satellite towns and rural areas is creeping into the city centre with many ‘joints’ now selling the highly intoxicating drink.

Despite fears that agbo consumption could be detrimental to health, the number of people that patronise these joints keeps swelling.

Though commonly associated with low-income earners, and sometimes illiterates, Aso Chronicle investigation shows that even the educated are not left out in swigging the killer brew.

The local brew, which original name is ogogoro, comes in different flavours as sellers have devised ways of making it attractive. Some sellers soak roots and herbs in the gin and after sometime, it changes colour and taste as well.

Mr Chike N. C., a lawyer who spoke with our reporters said he takes the dogonyaro and jedi-jedi mixture to relieve himself of malaria.  “I can’t remember the last time I fell ill, since I started taking this mixture,” he said, while pleading with the government not to allow its agencies ban the drink.

 “What do you want? Sebi, government wan ban ogogoro, make them ban am, make we see,” was all an ogogoro hawker muttered as she initially declined talking to our reporter.

However, he persisted, “can I have a shot please?” “The one for fever, back pain, man power, or waist pain?” an agbo hawker who later called herself Hajara asked. For fever, our reporter replied.

 Agbo taken by some on the guise of its medicinal value has contributed to the deaths of many people, earning the appellation, ‘a silent killer.’

“With lime, water or ogogoro?” Hajara asked again.

 “with ogogoro is the best because it will work faster and take the medicine into your system quickly,” she answered, smiling encouragingly.

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People like Hajara are many within the metropolis. They earn a living by selling agbo. With a bowl loaded with plastic containers and bottles of different herbs, they walk several kilometres, carrying another bucket filled with peppered beef and cooked cow skin (ponmo).

It is known by different names: paraga, shepe, akpuru achia (take a sip and smile), fona gau (cross the road hurriedly), goskolo - are few among the names, though agbo seems to be the most popular.

From its traditional significance as libation during traditional events, it is now served during parties and social gatherings. The high patronage enjoyed by the local drink above distilled gin might be connected to the high volume of alcohol content, usually above 50 percent, in it if the words of Hajara, who has been selling the drink for more than five years, are anything to go by.

 Usually brewed from palm frond, she said due to pressure from consumers for a stronger drink that intoxicates faster, some used ethanol, then recently methanol.

Methanol is a type of alcohol used for industrial and automotive purposes.  Some of the residents that spoke to Aso Chronicle said they take the drink because of its medicinal value but Kayode Michael, said in the long run, there was nothing medicinal in the drink.

“My cousin was addicted to it. He took it for more than 30 years despite pleas to him to stop. Then, we discovered that his was getting skinnier and skinnier,” Kayode Michael recalled.

Michael said he never knew that the agbo had affected his cousin’s liver. “Anthony died in 2013,” he added.

 To complete the concoction mixed with ogogoro, Omongboji, one of the sellers in Karmo said she uses herbs like lemon grass, dogonyaro, and lime grass,  while she boastfully said, it is good in treating waist pain, malaria and body pain and gives extra strength to men to perform in bed.

 She said that since she started the business about six years ago, there has not been any complain from her customers, adding that her credibility in the trade has earned her more customers.

 “The ethanol I use is made from the factory and not hand made,” she said, admitting that some of the sellers mix chemicals to make the drink stronger.

 On her part, Rashidat Adetola said she came about the idea of selling agbo when her parents died. In order to make ends meet, she ventured into the business after been tutored by a neighbour in Ogun State. For about two years now, she has been in Abuja, keeping the business alive.

 She said she adds moringa and ginger into her mixture to give it unique taste.

 However, despite the claims of the sellers, Idowu Okooba, who used to sell the drink, said the effects are real. “It worsens the condition of those consuming it,” he said and commended the move by the government to ban the drink in the country.

 Idowu said many of the people that sell the drink shy away from the truth because it is their source of livelihood.

 While corroborating Idowu’s position, a medical practitioner, Jedidah Opeyemi, said the claims by the hawkers are not medically proven. She described it as a ploy to get more customers for their business.

Chidi Francis, a Lokogoma resident, is disturbed by the rate at which residents drink agbo in the FCT.

“It is shocking, because, you see them, early in the morning drinking it. All the security guards at my estate take shots from a hawker every morning,” Francis said wondering what they derived from the drink despite its dangers.

 Thompson Luka, a commercial motorcyclist speaking on the effects of the drink said he takes it every morning “to shine his eyes’” and fight cold while riding his okada. Though he admitted the hazards in drinking the local gin, he said it was difficult to resist it. He hopes however that he would be able to stop drinking it before it posed any danger to him.

 Joseph Adu, a bricklayer said he prefers the moringa and lemon grass mixture “because it helps me to relax after a stressful day.” He said the local gin he has been taking for two years has no negative effect on him.

For Jacob Aduwu, who works with one of the federal ministries, the mixture of pepper soup and local lime cleanses his body system and makes him urinate frequently.

“There was a time I took agbo and it gave me weak erection, for some time,” he said, confirming the explanation of Dr.  Opeyemi Jedidah that many people unknowingly put themselves in harm’s way while they thought they were curing an ailment.

  She said alcohol intake, be it foreign distilled or locally brewed affects the liver. “The manifestation is still there; it is like beating something continuously, with time, that thing will be damaged,” she explained.

 She said government is right by banning the drink, adding that the ban could save many families.

 “Ethanol and methanol are different but from the same family.

Residents should avoid both,” she warned, though she described methanol as the deadlier of the two.

 “Why not the government institutes a control unit that goes into these vicinities and educate residents involved in selling and drinking ogogoro or agbo?”  she said, and urged government to intensify efforts in creating jobs and eradicating poverty.

 “If not total ban, there should be a control mechanism put in place to check the activities of the sellers,” she added.


Source: (Daily Trust)