How Women in Northern Nigeria are reclaiming their lives after drug use

On a quiet street in Gombe, Northern Nigeria, a new kind of centre has opened its doors—one not just built of brick and mortar, but of empathy, resilience, and hope.

It’s called VATADD—Vocation As Therapy Against Drug Dependence—and for the women who gathered there on the morning of February 14, 2025, it’s more than a building. It’s a lifeline.

Some arrived with toddlers on their backs, others with henna still fresh on their hands. Many came with silent stories—of stigma, survival, and years of being pushed to the margins. But on this day, the air was charged with something different: possibility.

A First of Its Kind

Nigeria is facing a growing drug crisis, with more than 14.3 million people reported to be using psychoactive substances. Among them, women who use drugs face a double burden—of addiction and of being criminalized, rejected, and often violently excluded from healthcare, housing, and work.

For these women, recovery doesn’t always start in a clinic. Sometimes, it starts with a haircut, a sewing needle, or simply being welcomed without judgment.

This is the philosophy behind VATADD, a project initiated by DAPHO (Drug Free And Preventive Healthcare Organization) and funded by ViiV Healthcare, a UK-based donor focused on global health equity.

The centre offers vocational training in hairdressing, tailoring, barbing, henna design, manicure and pedicure, and shoemaking. But more than that, it offers something even rarer: a place where women who use drugs are seen, heard, and supported.

“This Centre Is a Sanctuary”

“This centre is not just a building. It is a sanctuary for women to heal, to learn, and to rebuild,” said Aniedi Akpan, DAPHO’s Executive Director, in his opening address at the commissioning ceremony.

He spoke to a room filled with community leaders and government representatives—from the Office of the Wife of the Governor to the Ministries of Health, Youth Development, and Women Affairs. For many of them, this was their first time directly engaging with a centre focused solely on the needs of women who use drugs.

Akpan emphasized that the idea behind VATADD was born out of empathy. “These funds could have gone elsewhere, but we knew this was what our community needed. We want these women to leave here with more than skills—we want them to leave with dignity.”

Support From the Top

Among the most powerful moments of the event was the message from the Wife of the Governor, delivered through her representative. She applauded DAPHO’s initiative and assured the organization of the State Government’s readiness to collaborate in uplifting vulnerable women.

Other stakeholders echoed the sentiment.

A representative from the Society for Family Health called the centre a “wake-up call” for other civil society organizations. “This is the kind of work that changes lives,” he said. “And it’s being done by a community-based organization.”

A Tour Through Possibility

After the speeches and ribbon-cutting, guests were taken on a tour of the centre’s facilities. In the sewing room, women practiced stitching patterned bedsheets. In the barbing salon, clippers buzzed softly as a young woman demonstrated her newly learned skill on a training dummy. Laughter echoed from the hair studio, where others experimented with braids and twists.

For many of the women, this was the first time they had ever been in a space designed for them. And that simple act of inclusion was already creating change.

“We Are Not Used to Being Accepted”

As the event wrapped up with a shared cake and group photographs, attendees lingered, reluctant to leave the space that had welcomed them so fully.

One woman, who asked not to be named, summed up the day in a quiet moment during a post-event interview. “We are not used to being accepted,” she said, her voice catching. “Now we have somewhere to go, something to do.”

A Radical Gesture in a Conservative Landscape

In Northern Nigeria, where drug use is still widely viewed through a lens of criminality and moral failure, the opening of the VATADD centre is a radical gesture. It reframes addiction as a public health and human rights issue—and women who use drugs as individuals worthy of investment, care, and opportunity.

For DAPHO, the journey is just beginning. But for the women of Gombe who have long been overlooked, the centre is already serving its purpose.

It’s a place to learn a trade. A place to breathe. A place to begin again.