Anxiety as women destroy beer palours in Jos over husband’s low libido, infertility

By Ihechukwu Sunday

Reminiscent of what happened in Nguru community, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, a couple of years ago, when the Nguru women under the aegis of Catholic Women Organisation of St Anthony’s Parish, Nguru in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, staged a protest march against the sale of alcohol, women in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, a few days ago, seized and destroyed alcoholic drinks and related substances from shops across communities.

The women in Nsukka protested without destroying anybody’s property. They lamented that the substance had rendered their men useless such that they abandoned their traditional duty of providing for their families to the women.

They equally feared that if the situation was left unchecked, it was capable of pitching them against God. They alleged that the biblical injunction, “Go and procreate and fill the earth,” was under serious threat if urgent steps were not taken as they insisted that substance had rendered many of their men infertile. Those who had not completely gone infertile, the women alleged, had become impotent and incapable of performing their marital duties. “After drinking the Kaikai, they would come home and lie down like a log of wood. They would snore till the next day. They can no longer have sex with their wives because their organs are almost dead. How do we procreate under that situation? That is why we are crying out to the world,” the women chorused in unison as they waved fresh green leaves around the community.

That was what happened in the Enugu community a few years ago. Last week, a group of women in Jos replicated a similar thing but this time, they added violence to it as they destroyed beer palours.

According to reports, the exercise which took place mostly in Sabon Barki and Bukuru Low Cost areas of Gyel district witnessed a large turnout of women, who claimed the substances were making their husbands irresponsible. Others alleged that their husbands’ manhood was no longer functioning properly.

The women in Nguru Nsukka who were dressed in Catholic Christian Mothers’ uniform, moved from hamlet to hamlet, chanting dirge for the sellers of the products and when they got to any shop suspected to be involved in the sale of the substance, they only dropped fresh green leaves in front of the shop as a sign of disapproval and chanted dirge before proceeding to the next shop.

But, in the case of the women in Jos, they went from shops to joints where such products were sold, seized and destroyed them. They divided themselves into groups, and were supported by young girls, children, vigilantes and other volunteers.

According to reports, some shop owners who got hint of the exercise ahead, locked their shops, and disappeared, but the women promised to come back with tougher measures. It was alleged that the exercise had the approval of community and traditional rulers.

Like the Nguru protest, the women in Jos were mostly concerned about the locally produced alcoholic drinks and intoxicants, which they considered very harmful and with high concentration of chemicals.

“These drinks are turning our men to irresponsible people. It is making them weak, taking away their strengths and making them useless.

“Our youths don’t have the strength to do menial jobs or farm works to fend for themselves again. They spend most of their time in these drinking places.

“Our husbands have also been weakened by the drinks, and they can no longer perform their conjugal duties at night. Today, instead of having a man and a woman at home, we now have two women at home since our husbands cannot be called men any longer,” one of the women volunteered.

Another woman identified as Veronica Gyang said they were attacking the beer palours alcohol has finished their men. She said: “Alcohol has snatched our men and youth from us. Early in the morning every day, the young boys instead of looking for what to do will sit comfortably and drink themselves to stupor at these joints, which are scattered everywhere around here. After drinking, the person will become useless throughout the day. Those who are married among them cannot even feed their wives not to talk of their children. Our women have suddenly become the breadwinners simply because of alcohol. Our suffering is over-weighing us; the burden of solely catering for our families’ needs is becoming too much on us. That is why we have decided to take this drastic measure.”

However, some people are of the view that the exercise would not produce any positive result as it won’t stop the men from consuming the substance. Those who are pushing this argument emphasised that the only way to stop or curb the development would be for the government to empower the men by providing them with jobs to keep them busy, otherwise they would always have a way of getting the drinks even if the women destroyed the ones they saw.

But, the questions begging for answers in all of these are: Is it true that such drinks are killing men’s manhood and rendering them impotent or reducing their conjugal prowess? Do the women have the legal right to destroy somebody’s business even when the substance is not banned by any law in the country?

Looking at the medical implication as alleged by the women, the Medical Director of The Healthcare Hospital, THH, Dr Chikodi Onyemkpa, agreed with the women that heavy consumption of alcohol can actually reduce men’s libido. He described as funny the thinking by most men that alcohol would help them to perform maximally in bed with their wives, regretting that such always end up being disappointed as they most often find their penis going flaccid and being unable to perform.

“The women complained that their husbands have reduced libido and they cannot perform as they used to perform before they resorted to drinking alcohol. Yes, medically, alcohol can do that and even more.

“Alcohol will reduce sperm count if taken it too much. Alcohol has always been known to reduce sexual performance. The funny thing is that some people take alcohol believing that it will make them more sexually active. But, there is a level at which alcohol acts on the nervous system and you find that a person that is drunk cannot even find the hole where to put his penis, but in his own mind, he is as ready as he thought he could be,” he stated.

He stressed that only their wives could be in a better position to pass verdict on what their husbands have become sexually following heavy consumption of alcohol. He said: “The reality is that the play of alcohol on the mind and on the nervous system does not produce as much value as the men think it gives them, and their wives are better judges. Yes, a lot of alcohol can reduce libido.”

Also offering insight into the discourse, Dr. Uche Okenyi of the Hova’s Place Hospital, Festac, Lagos corroborated the position of the women as far as erection and infertility are concerned.

Looking at the effect of alcohol on male erection, he stressed that heavy alcohol consumption depresses the central nervous system, which leads to an interference with the transmission of signals from the brain instructing the person to fill up with blood to make it hard.

On alcohol and infertility, he also said: “Studies in long term heavy alcohol use have reported reduced levels of the hormones involved in sperm production.

It can also cause the shrinking of the testes, medically referred to as atrophy, thereby leading to reduced sperm production and reduced quality of the sperm.”

He, however, noted that moderate consumption can enhance the desire for sex even though it does not help in sexual performance. “Conversely, however, moderate alcohol consumption can enhance libido and desire for sex, but most times, it limits the performance,” he submitted.

Do the women have the legal right to destroy people’s business even when the substance is not banned by any law in the country? A legal practioner, Ikechukwu Onodi looked at the legal implication of what the women in Jos did, saying they have no right to destroy anybody’s liquor business, just because they want to stop their husbands from taking the substance. He argued that those whose beer palours were destroyed by the women could institute a legal action and claim damages.

“Those women are liable in tort for willful damage to personal property, and they are as such, liable in damages through action in tort. Tort is the law of wrongs,” he said.

He noted that what the women ought to have done was to find a way of persuading their husbands to desist from alcohol consumption, and not to attack people’s business interest. “Whatever grouse they have with their husbands should be settled in-house. They have no right to damage people’s businesses in the name of redressing their husbands’ inability to perform their matrimonial duties,” he stated.