Wellspring University Journal of Social and Management Sciences

This study explores the nexus between drug abuse and the rising wave of criminal activities among youths in Bori Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, Nigeria. Framed within criminological and sociological perspectives, the research draws upon empirical evidence derived from interviews with community leaders, law enforcement officers, youth representatives, and health practitioners. Findings reveal that drug abuse functions as both a symptom and driver of socio-economic marginalization, unemployment, and weak family structures. The historical context of Bori, once the headquarters of the Ogoni struggle and a hub for youth activism, is now overshadowed by escalating drug use—particularly cannabis, codeine-based syrups, and synthetic substances—which correlates with increased incidences of theft, cult-related violence, and armed robbery. The research demonstrates that drug abuse lowers inhibitions, fosters deviant subcultures, and exacerbates social exclusion, thereby entrenching cycles of poverty and insecurity. Participants emphasized inadequate government intervention, porous drug supply networks, and the normalization of drug culture among youths as key enablers of the crisis. This paper argues for integrated policy responses combining community-based rehabilitation, law enforcement reform, youth empowerment programmes, and interfaith engagement to dismantle the structural conditions sustaining the drug–crime nexus. The study contributes to debates in youth studies, criminology, and African development research by situating the experiences of Bori youths within broader patterns of drug-induced criminality in Nigeria.

The study investigated of the role of indigenous traditional institutions in management of conflict in Brass. This study is significant, as it revealed age long practices, as well as contemporary strategies used in the management of conflicts in Brass. The study employed the primary, secondary, and the multidisciplinary approaches in its collations and interpretations of data. It made use of the Structural functionality and Role theories in its analysis. The study, however, revealed that conflict in Brass Local Government Area takes the same pattern as in most traditional African society. It stressed that conflicts in Brass Local Government Area, emanate from the family setting and snowball to the larger society, where its consequences ranges from mild to hostile conditions. The research revealed that claims to ownership of land, conquest and territorial expansion, competition for natural resources, trade monopoly, siting of basic infrastructure, and cultism etcetera are the main causes of conflicts in Brass L.G.A. The study, thus, argued that indigenous institutions like Kings, House Chiefs, and Family were traditional mean through which conflict are addressed in Brass Local Government Area. The study recommended that resolution of disputes can be facilitated by the active involvement of the chiefs and elders from the disputing parties, who should consistently engage in constructive dialogue and collaboratively propose viable solutions, measures, and procedures. The study concluded that conflict is a natural phenomenon that affects all societies of the world, as such, requires sincerity, competence and innovativeness in addressing it, as none innovative methods, may lead to disastrous outcomes.