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Tag: Drug abuse

  • Council boss cautions youths against drug abuse, cultism

    Council boss cautions youths against drug abuse, cultism

    The Chairman, Badagry-West Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mr. Joseph Gbenu, has cautioned youths against drug abuse and cultism.

    He has empowered 300 of them.

    Gbenu spoke during an awards and youth empowerment ceremony in the council to mark the International Youth Day Celebration yesterday.

    The event was organised by the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Badagry-West chapter, Lagos.

    Gbenu presented equipment such as rechargeable clippers, dryers, tile cutters, sewing machines, generator,  shoe filing machines, vulcanising and grinding machines to 300 of the youth.

    He said youths, especially those in primary and secondary schools, should stay away from cultism and drug abuse.

    “You must adhere to your parents’ instructions and be obedient to them.”

    “Stay away from drugs that are strictly prohibited in our society.

    Read Also: 10 consequences of drug abuse you should know about

    “Always imbibe the spirit of discipline and tolerance, and ensure you participate in developing yourselves daily,” he said.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr. Mobolaji Ogunlende, urged youths to prepare themselves for any opportunity that could impact positively on them.

    He advised them to take charge of their destiny to ensure they got to their destinations.

    The Coordinator, NYCN Badagry-West LCDA branch, Mr. David Aladeotan, said youths in the council are working towards the betterment of their beloved communities.

    Mr Samuel Enilari, one of the beneficiaries, thanked the council chairman for the gesture and promised to use the items for the progress of the council.

  • 10 consequences of drug abuse you should know about

    10 consequences of drug abuse you should know about

    Drug addiction, especially when it involves illegal or uncertified drugs, can lead to unimaginable situations.

    Here are some of the consequences that can affect drug addicts:

    1. Isolation:

    Addiction quickly becomes a lifestyle. An addicted person dedicates more and more of their attention to getting drugs, finding ways to use, and concealing their use from others. All of these behaviours separate us from anyone not participating in our addiction, enabling it, or at least in denial or willing to look the other way.

    One of the first goals in getting substance abuse help is to break through that wall of isolation. Knowing they don’t have to fight the battle alone comes as a relief to almost anyone caught up in the throes of active addiction.

    If you find yourself tangled up in addiction, challenge yourself to break that isolation. Tell the truth about what’s happening to someone you can trust. If you see someone you care about isolating and suspect they may need substance abuse help, give them a sign that you’re a safe place. You are willing to listen without judgment and help if you can.

    2. Stagnation:

    Getting stuck in our emotional development is another of the 10 effects of drug abuse. Drug use dulls the senses. In trying to escape uncomfortable things, we also miss many growth opportunities. The mechanisms that help us learn from mistakes also fail to work properly when under the influence.

    You will sometimes hear people in 12-step fellowships say that their emotional growth seemed to stop at the age when they began using, and there is certainly some truth to that. One of the greatest blessings of recovery is the growth we begin to experience as the fog clears.

    3. Damaged Relationships:

    Relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners can be challenging even in the best of times and when we’re completely sober. Introducing drugs and alcohol into the equation can only make things worse. We’re more apt to fight and argue when we are irritable and not feeling right. The obliteration of our senses can make us less empathetic and aware of the needs of others.

    The choices we make while using and the lies we may tell can also cause deep psychic wounds to the people we love. One of the greatest gifts of recovery is that we get an opportunity to repair this damage. There are no guarantees, but recovery is about hope, and some miraculous things are bound to happen if you stick to it with determination.

    4. Financial Distress:

    A drug habit can get expensive fast. If alcohol is your substance of choice, it’s easy to run up a hefty bar tab quickly. Illegal drugs come with the built-in black-market tax associated with any illicit goods. On top of that, drinking and using tend to lower our inhibitions. Impulse purchases and financial irresponsibility are common before someone receives the substance abuse help they need. 

    Money trouble leads to stress and anxiety. Combined with the relentless desire to get high and stay high, it’s a formula for more bad decisions and risk-taking. Money trouble is almost always among the 10 effects of drug abuse that people experience when addiction takes hold.

    5. Health Problems:

    One of these 10 effects of drug abuse people are most familiar with is the impact on physical health. Alcohol is hard on the vital organs, especially the liver and stomach. Stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine can cause permanent heart damage and stroke. Opioids, including heroin and prescription opioids, create long-term imbalances in neurons and hormonal systems and damage the brain’s vital white matter.

    There is simply no way to abuse drugs for long without physical consequences. No number of vitamins or amount of healthy eating or exercise will offset it. With time and patience, we recover in both mind and body, but we should never minimize the serious impact addiction can have on human health.

    6. Depression and Anxiety:

    Using drugs or alcohol frequently brings about depression and anxiety. There are two main reasons for this. First, the biochemical effects of drugs of abuse themselves often trigger depression and anxiety either when using the drug or as its effects begin to subside and withdrawal sets in.

    Secondly, the choices that drug abuse entails also lead to depression and anxiety. No one can live a dishonest, duplicitous life for long without becoming depressed and fearful. We aren’t built to live that way. The good news is we don’t have to! Help is available; all we need to do is ask.

    7. Provoking Existing Mental Health Conditions:

    Many people are aware that depression and anxiety are among the 10 effects of drug abuse. But did you know that using drugs also frequently triggers existing mental health disorders? Someone with a predisposition to psychotic episodes may have never experienced one until they began abusing drugs. If you have a mental health issue, diagnosed or otherwise, drug abuse can only worsen the symptoms.

    Read Also: NSCDC, NDLEA vow to curb drug abuse in Rivers

    8. A Criminal Record:

    Buying and using drugs greatly increases your odds of ending up with a permanent criminal record. Ask anyone with a history of felonies, and they will tell you that has a profound effect on your future. If you are lucky enough to get sober with a felony criminal record, you may still pay the price of using for the rest of your life.

    There is always a way forward, regardless of the consequences we face in addiction. As long as you’re alive, there is hope. Remember that every day that we continue on the path of addiction, we risk our present and our future. Don’t forget the rule of holes. When you find yourself in one, the first thing to do is stop digging.

    9. Lost Dreams:

    Lost dreams are possibly the most tragic and often overlooked of the 10 effects of drug abuse. If you are around other people who use drugs, you know all about it. How many of those people talk about their big dreams and ambitions? About what they are going to do “one day”?

    How many of them ever do any of it? Drug abuse steals our dreams and stifles our potential. It snuffs out your candlelight. That may sound like a sentimental cliché, but anyone who has spent any time in addiction will know it rings true if they are capable of being honest with themselves. You don’t have to let drugs steal any more from you, though. All it takes is enough willingness to ask for help.

    10. Death:

    Finally, there is the grim reality of death. Whether we like it or not, drug abuse increases our chances of dying, whether it’s the risk of a fatal overdose, a car accident, or being shot and killed trying to score, using increases your risk of imminent death. Period.

  • NSCDC, NDLEA vow to curb drug abuse in Rivers

    NSCDC, NDLEA vow to curb drug abuse in Rivers

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have pledged to end rising drug abuse in Rivers State.

    The two agencies made commitment for partnership yesterday in Port Harcourt when the NDLEA Commander of Narcotics, Ahmed Mamuda, led a team of senior management to visit the state Commandant of NSCDC, Basil Igwebueze.

    Basil condemned the ravaging increase in drugs and substance abuse among youths, saying most heinous crimes were committed after inducement of drugs and substance abuse.

    He said the only way to rid the nation of crime was to unanimously condemn such denigrating act beginning from the cradle to adulthood.

    The NSCDC boss said some children were abused through the environment they found themselves and the negative exposure they had impacted their lives negatively.

    Read Also: NDLEA, NAFDAC, Sports enthusiasts discuss dangers of drug abuse, doping

    He said the fight against the use of prohibited drugs must be a collective responsibility to actualise a crime-free society.

    He said: “It is highly disturbing that drug abuse has now eaten deep into the fabrics of our society, it has destroyed our youths especially and for us to protect the tomorrow which our youths are going to be leaders, we need to be in unity towards fighting the cause.

    “The campaign against drugs and substance abuse should not be done only in schools and neighborhood, the fighters of this crime, who include all security personnel, are also not excluded; officers and men on duty must see the need to firmly abhor the intake of drugs and inducers while on duty as well.

    “I also want to state unequivocally that the issue of espirit-de-corps does not apply when a crime is being committed, you will be made to face the wrath of the law even as an officer if you are caught dealing in or consuming narcotics.”

    The Rivers NDLEA Commander of Narcotics, Ahmed Mamuda, said the agency had intensified campaigns against drug abuse across the state.

    He said in curtailing sales and intake of illicit drugs and prohibited substances, the NDLEA had been organising reorientation and awareness programme across communities, churches, mosques and schools.

    He said there was need for NDLEA, NSCDC and other security agencies to partner and strengthen ties in order to fight to a standstill the spate of drug abuse across board.

    He said: “My visit today is premised on the need to collaborate with your agency so that we can join hands together to rid Rivers State of the hand of criminal-minded persons and one of the ways to do this is to combat the circulation and intakes of illicit drugs in our environment.

    “On behalf of the entire NDLEA Command, I want to promise that as you have given your full support, we will organise a training session for the officers to be fully equipped with necessary skills on how to identify prohibited drugs, effects of intake, arrests and rehabilitation methods for victims.”

  • Drug abuse as an enabler of cultism

    Drug abuse as an enabler of cultism

    Sir: Creating a dangerous synergy, individuals, communities, and the nation at large face significant threats as drug abuse and cultism often go hand in hand. While drug abuse itself is a grave issue, it becomes even more troubling when it enables complicity in the spread of cults and secret society groups within our immediate environment. Consequently, drug abuse has been established as a major causative of most criminal activities, including cultism, rape, terrorism, armed robbery, among others.

    Cultism has gone beyond the shores of educational institutions and now thrives within our closest clusters, like religious groups, cultural associations, residential play and sport groups and political associations; so is drug abuse. With the youths holding a major percentage of persons within these groups, drug barons and their street dealing salesmen are gradually infiltrating the activities of these young ones with drug use culture, aimed at enhancing their participation in choice activities and area of interest, while leading them into cultism and various secret groups.

    While the truth remains that such drug culture that we allow to thrive is gradually eating away the brains of our supposed future leaders and stars, it is then imperative, that we wake up to the responsibility of breaking the link between drug abuse and cultism.

    Read Also: Drug abuse: How to protect Nigeria’s future

    Drug abuse, due to its psychoactive and mind-altering effects, can render individuals vulnerable to recruitment by cult groups. Cult groups, mostly led by some undignified individuals, lures mostly young and bright persons with the illusion of offering them a supportive system with a purpose, while preying on their vulnerabilities ranging from struggles with academics, peer pressures, relationship issues, drug use dilemma and other factors. Once they see these persons who often experience feelings of isolation, desperation, and hopelessness, they offer them illicit drugs and some icing with hopes of a better future, making them susceptible to being members of secret societies and cult related groups. 

    Curbing the menace of drug abuse and cultism might be challenging but not impossible, as it requires a multifaceted approach through practical preventive education and awareness about the risks involved.

     One of the approaches I would recommend is for the majority of us, especially parents, religious and traditional leaders, to key into the prevention and awareness activities of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA. My experience in joining one of their X Space activity last week, where I listened to a certain psychologist, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Ogunkanmi, made me realise that the federal government is doing a lot in drug use prevention and  we all need to key in. 

    Recognising the link between drug abuse and cultism is essential for developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. We can break the cycle and protect individuals from falling victim to the allure of cultism by addressing the root causes of drug abuse and providing support to those in need. We must not underestimate the power of these issues but work together from every strata to create a future that is free from the negative consequences of drug abuse and cultism.

    • Edochie Victor, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State.
  • Drug Abuse: Govt should provide free legal, social support for youths

    Drug Abuse: Govt should provide free legal, social support for youths

    Tolulope Adebiyi, a prominent lawyer and advocate for safe spaces for youth, has proposed the establishment of free legal and social support services aimed at combating drug abuse among Nigerian youths.

    During a recent press conference, Adebiyi highlighted the critical need for comprehensive support systems to tackle the rising issue of drug abuse among Nigerian youth, pointing out its severe impact on mental health, families, and the country’s social and economic development.

    She explained that the proposed pro bono support services would offer legal advice, psychological assistance, and social rehabilitation to affected youths.

    “This initiative seeks to fill the gaps in current support systems, ensuring that vulnerable youths receive the holistic care and empowerment needed to overcome addiction.”

    Adebiyi noted that the prevalence of drug abuse among Nigerian youths has reached alarming proportions, with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reporting over 3 million youths involved in substance abuse.

    “This trend is concerning, and immediate action is essential to protect the future of our nation.”

    She identified stigma, limited access to quality healthcare, and socioeconomic factors as significant obstacles to seeking help.

    “Our pro bono services will emphasize confidentiality, accessibility, and community involvement to encourage youths to seek help without fear of judgment.”

    The proposed initiative will also aim to educate families and communities about the dangers of drug abuse and the significance of seeking assistance.

    “We need to shift the focus from stigmatization to support and understanding,” she asserted. “Families and communities must be empowered to recognize early warning signs and foster a supportive environment for recovery.”

    Adebiyi stressed the necessity for policy reforms to address the fundamental causes of drug abuse.

    “We need stronger laws and regulations to combat the spread of illicit substances, along with increased funding for mental health services and rehabilitation programs.”

    Additionally, the initiative will collaborate with educational institutions to incorporate substance abuse prevention programs into school curricula.

    “Equipping youths with the knowledge and skills to make informed choices is essential in preventing drug abuse,” Adebiyi emphasized.

    The community-based approach of the initiative will also involve engaging traditional and religious leaders, utilizing their influence to drive positive change.

    “We acknowledge the importance of cultural and spiritual leaders in shaping societal attitudes,” she remarked. “By working together, we can create a strong support network for affected youths.”

    With over a decade of experience in providing expert legal counsel and advocacy services, Adebiyi is a distinguished lawyer and mental health expert.

    Her contributions to mental health awareness and advocacy have garnered national and international recognition, including prestigious awards.

    Through this initiative, Adebiyi reaffirms her dedication to fostering positive change and enhancing the well-being of vulnerable populations.

  • Onaiyekan’s Foundation, NDLEA, Czech embassy rehabilitate 30 drug addicts

    The Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP) on Monday said it had rehabilitated 30 youths in Abuja who were subjected to treatment in 2018 for drug addiction.

    Rev. Sister Agatha Chikelue, Executive Director, COFP, made the disclosure on Monday during its “Youths Living Above Drug Addition (YOLDA)’’ programme in Abuja.

    The programme was supported by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Czech Republic Embassy in Abuja.

    Chikelue said the youth after their rehabilitation were trained on skills acquisition such as tailoring, hair dressing, hair cutting, makeup, cobbling, pastries and soap making, among others.

    She also announced that the foundation had engaged another 30 youths for rehabilitation this year.

    “The foundation will also graduate another 30 youths this year, so 60 youths are going to be graduating between 2018 and 2019,’’ the executive director said.

    Chikelue said that the objective of the programme was to ensure that youths were put on the right track to live more dignified lives in the future.

    The executive director said that the beneficiaries went through series of tests such as heart, liver, kidney and STDs in order to determine if they had been affected by the drugs, while those with issues started treatment.

    She said that the empowerment stage afforded the participants the opportunity to identify skills they had a passion for and the organisation paid for their training and gave them start up kits.

    Chkelue said the participants were made up of 21 males and nine females drawn from the FCT and environs.

    Mrs Beata Matusikova, Economic and Commercial Affairs, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Abuja, said that the embassy collaborated with the foundation to help Nigerian youths come out of the ugly act.

    Matusikova said that the embassy decided to come to their rescue and also engaged them in economic empowerment related skills acquisition.

    She urged the beneficiaries not to relent in whatever thing they are doing and assured them that the embassy would not abandon them after their graduation.

    Mr Boniface Donald, one of the beneficiaries, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the participants would continue to remained grateful to the foundation and other stakeholders.

     

    (NAN)

  • Drug abuse: Killing Nigeria softly

    It is not the drugs that make a drug addict, it’s the need to escape reality – Riley Blue (Fictional character portrayed by Tuppence Middleton). Addiction begins with hope that something “out there” can instantly fill up the emptiness inside – Jean Kilbourne, a public Speaker.

    In Nigeria, the cosmetic approach of always treating symptoms rather than the disease has created more problems than solutions in the fight against drug abuse and addiction. The failure to deploy sustainable holistic approach to tackle drug abuse and addiction from the source keeps impacting our society negatively. This drug-troubled situation has remained so for long given the deep-rooted nature of drugs and this has eaten far into the fabrics of our nation today. It is therefore imperative for all concerned and well-meaning Nigerians to address this ravaging challenge of drug abuse in our society today by providing a lasting solution as a matter of national urgency and emergency.

    A drug is a substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose. Drugs are meant to change the state or function of the body. The misuse of, or overindulgence in drugs is called drug abuse. To abuse a drug is to use it for non-medical purpose, or to take an overdose of the prescription. The use of a drug only for the effect it produces is an abuse of that drug. Experts and clinical pharmacists have submitted that self-medication or self-prescription is a common form of drug abuse.

    Drug abuse is also the use of illicit drugs resulting in physical, mental, emotional and social impairment of the user. Legally allowed drugs may be abused through overdose or non-conformity to prescription directives.

    According to the World Health Organisation, drug abuse or substance abuse is the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. This results in a strong desire to take the drug and difficulty in controlling its use despite harmful consequences. Recently, a report of the first ever survey on drug use in Nigeria was released. The survey, which was supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Union, revealed that, about 14.3 million Nigerians, representing about 14.4 per cent of the country’s population between ages 15 to 64, were said to have abused drugs in the past one year.

    With respect to addiction treatment and rehabilitation, drugs can be classified, as regulated by the Controlled Substances Act into five categories – narcotics, depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens and anabolic steroids. Narcotics work by inducing sleep, dulling and deadening the senses. Depressants decrease neuronal or physiological activity in the body. Stimulants act to increase and promote physiological or nervous activity in the body. Hallucinogens create a sensory perception of something that does not exist leading to substantial subjective changes in thoughts, emotions and consciousness. Anabolics are used to treat weight loss and muscle growth.

    Research reveals that the five most addictive substances in the world are: Heroin, cocaine, nicotine, barbiturates and alcohol. Mostly abused drugs among Nigerian youths, due to the affordability, are some prescription drugs such as tramadol, codeine, antibiotics, cough syrups and laxatives. The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, said drug abuse could lead to irregular heartbeat – cramp, coma and death. She identified reasons for high prevalence of drug abuse in the country as: love of money by peddlers, unemployment, disobedience to laws of the land and the porous borders. According to her, the only way to prevent a breakdown of law and order by the addicts is for government to develop and enforce National Prescription Policy.

    Drug addiction is simply dependency on drugs, especially those which are illegally procured. Drug addiction is a disease which affects a person’s brain and behavior resulting in an inability to control the use of such drug. Wikipedia defines addiction as a brain disorder characterised by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. It has been observed that the indulgence of addicts in drugs is their way of shying away from the harsh and unfair realities of life.

    It is established that the main reason people get addicted to drugs or alcohol is to escape reality, but the truth is, the absence of feelings is no replacement for reality – the problems still remain. Addicts do not choose to get addicted; they only choose to deny their pains momentarily. Numbing that pain temporarily will make it worse when it is eventually felt. The surging demand for illicit drugs has become alarming, given their accessibility and availability on the streets and in most towns in Nigeria.

    According to HealthyPlace.com website, “You don’t get over addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again.” Addicts must take deliberate, concerted and uneasy steps to disabuse and condition their minds to break free from the self-prison of addiction.

    Dealers and distributors of illicit drugs are to be treated as criminals, while the users, being the addicts are the victims. The government should establish more drug addict treatment facilities which will cater for the reorientation, treatment and rehabilitation of addicts in the society.

    With prevention and treatment techniques, drug addiction is controllable, treatable and reversible. Societal stigmas toward drug addicts must be stopped. Addicts undergoing rehabilitation should be lovingly embraced by the society to avoid discrimination, feelings of guilt, shame, rejection and possible relapse.

    It is also very important to caution some of Nigerian celebrities, musicians in particular, who flaunt their shameless and irresponsible lifestyles through the displays of their drug-using lifestyles in their songs. The videos of such songs and the lyrics encourage living on hard drugs. These songs tend to put the use of hard drugs in good light. The songs provide encouragement to drug addicts. Such musicians remain bad examples for impressionable young ones in the society who may choose to tread the same path.

    There must be collaboration of all segments of the society to address this drug challenge. Parents, guardians, schools, government, health care providers, non-governmental organisations, pharmaceutical industries and media houses have huge roles to play together in order to curb the menace of drug abuse. When all hands are on deck, this huge challenge of drug addiction and abuse in the country becomes surmountable.

    • Ojewale writes in via kayodeojewale@gmail.com

  • Group seeks action against drug abuse

    The Justice Peace Development Commission (JPDC) has urged youths to avoid drug abuse which has become rampant.

    It noted that drug abuse leads to crime and destroys lives. JDPC held a walk and symposium to sensitise youths on the dangers of drug abuse.

    Its President Hillary Chima lamented the increasing rate of suicide among the youths, linking it to drug abuse.

    He urged parents to monitor their children, adding that more should be done to tackle the social problem.

    “Most working parents don’t have time for their children because they leave home very early and return late, leaving the children at the mercy of househelps.

    “They don’t understand what the children are doing so the children depend on their peers who lead them into drug addiction and suicide.

    “Youths develop all sorts of habits without their parent knowing what they are doing. Money is not everything in life, so parents must attend to their children,” Chima said.

    Head of Drug Law Enforcement Unit in the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Mrs. Stella Amechi said every stakeholder must work towards addressing the menace.

    A resource person, Afam Umealo, said parents must monitor what children watch on television and view on social media.

    “Most children copy bad habit from internet and television, such as boys sagging, wearing of ear rings, jerry curling their hair and drawing of tattoos on their body,” he said.

    The JDPC is the structure through which the Catholic Church responds to social issues.

    It emerged as part of the church’s mission towards the holistic salvation of man in line with its concern about human rights, justice and peace, which promote human dignity.

  • Ogbomoso elite rise to fight drug abuse

    With a 23 per cent drug abuse prevalence rate, according to a recent national drug use survey, Oyo is one of the states in dire need of multi-pronged actions by all segments of the society to curb the menace.

    Realising that the task of reversing the ugly trend is so huge that it cannot be left to the government and its agencies alone, a group of community leaders, under the umbrella of Ogbomoso First Community Initiative (O First Group), has taken up the fight against drug abuse in the ancient town and its environs.

    The group members are all accomplished men and women who are fired by their patriotic instincts to help their community in the face of rising spate of all manners of anti-social behaviors manifesting in the country, especially the festering vices of internet fraud, armed robbery, rape, political thuggery, and abuse of drugs.

    To this end, members of the group assembled in Ogbomoso last weekend, drawing along their influential friends, to inaugurate the Behavioural Anonymous Centre at Oke-Anu, Ogbomoso. It is a modest facility that will serve as a rehabilitation centre for people who abuse drugs, especially the young people in Ogbomoso and its environs.

    The promoters have chosen to tag it a correctional centre, but they said they want it to mould behaviours in an anonymous manner. The strategy, according to them, is to downplay the stigma often associated with those who abuse drugs and are isolated for revival and re-integration to the society. Although a permanent centre with comprehensive facilities is being planned for the near future, officials have vowed to make the yellow and brown bungalow habitable and functional.

    “The centre shall have, among other facilities, counselling room, intelligence room, waiting area, group discussion room, residential area, and toilet facilities. It will be adequately furnished and made habitable,” Otunba Adebayo Babatunde, past president of the group, said.

    Babatunde said members were concerned on the threat of uncontrolled drug abuse to communal peace even as they are mindful of its danger to national security. “The situation is worrisome, especially when you consider the attendant potential insecurity of lives, properties and most especially the future of the community when majority of the youths are drug dependent,” he said.

    He explained that while the group was considering measures to combat the drug prevalence, it also observed that high rate of youth unemployment and lack of skills have further deepened the insecurity crisis and heightened crime rate within the society. “As a remedial measure, we have been involved in the implementation of socio-economic development programmes for our community and the state at large through the empowerment of indigent people. We have also built our position around the fight against drug and substance abuse in the community, spreading the message that the high rate of consumption and abuse of various drugs and substances, which are inimical to the health of the consumers, is a visa to madness and collapse of the future development of our youth population most of who have become addicted and now constitute societal menace,” he added.

    Chief Ademola Dare-Williams, president of the group, however, situated the challenge differently. He fingered those who are gainfully employed in reputable jobs, pupils in primary schools, students of secondary and tertiary institutions and women as drug abusers.

    He said the group was determined to curb drug abuse and take concrete steps to enlighten the populace and provide succour to the victims. “We need to extirpate this social evil, which has destroyed homes, many lives and visited untold hardships on the people in this area and beyond,” he said.

    The group regarded the project as its corporate responsibility and social intervention programme, he disclosed, promising that there will be continuous efforts on enlightenment, caring, counselling and treatment of rehabilitated patients. The rehabilitation centre, which has drawn expertise from contiguous health institutions, is collaborating with the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and other government agencies.

    The Chief of Staff at NDLEA,Dr. Femi Oloruntoba,who represented the agency’s director-general to seal a collaborative agreement in deepening awareness on drug abuse, described the step taken by the group as timely and worthy of emulation. Any initiative that promotes communal efforts in addressing the challenges of drug abuse is commendable, he said.

    “The establishment of this centre underscores the fact that addressing the problem of drug abuse and illicit trafficking is a multilateral responsibility that involves all the strata of the society. I recommend that this noble initiative of Ogbomoso First Group should be emulated by other socio-cultural groups and non-governmental organisations,” the director-general, Muhammad Abdallah, said.

    The Onpetu of Ijeru, Oba Oyediran Olagbami and Dr. Oloruntoba, were joined by Chief Lanre Ipiminsho, the secretary of PACEDA, and other dignitaries to lay the foundation stone at the permanent site of the behavioural centre.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has also promised technical support even as sundry non-governmental organisations have expressed willingness to support the project.

  • Drug abuse teenager not our student – Caleb School

    Caleb International School Lagos, has dissociated itself from Lizzy, a drug abused teenager, whose story was circulated on the social media and currently at the Freedom Foundation Rehabilitation, Lekki.

    Lizzy had claimed to have attended the school, but Mr Elvis Otobo, the School Spokesman,  said in a statement on Saturday that Lizzy was never a former student of the school .

    “Our attention has been drawn to a viral video on social media about Lizzy, currently at the Freedom Foundation Rehabilitation facility undertaking drug rehabilitation and alleged to have attended Caleb Nursery and Primary School.

    ” We are  highly concerned with the unfortunate and misleading information, as our primary investigation and record proved that she was not a former student of our school, ” he said.

    Otobo reiterated the commitment of caleb schools to raising Godly children who would achieve a consistent record of moral and academic excellence.

    He said the school’s  Proprietor, Dr Oladega Adebogun as a parent and concerned Nigerian, was however interested in the full rehabilitation and re-integration of Lizzy into the society.

    According to him, a representative of  the school was sent to the rehabilitation centre to extend financial support to the abused teenager on a compassionate and humanitarian ground on April 19.

    “The financial support was received by Adeshola Bello of Freedom Foundation on behalf of Lizzy, as she was undergoing de-toxification .

    ” Bello thanked the proprietor,  Dr Adebogun for his philanthropic gesture , especially after ascertaining that Lizzy was never a former student of Caleb school.

    “The foundation representative notes that many youths are suffering from drug addiction and the problem is enormous,  that it calls for coordinated efforts from men and women of goodwill and government to pay more attention to resolving this menace.

    “The financial support would  go a long way to giving  Lizzy hope that there was  life after rehabilitation and reintegrate her into the society, ” he said.

    According to the spokesman, the foundation has promised to pay a courtesy visit to the proprietor along with Lizzy after her detoxification to appreciate his generosity.

    Otobo, on behalf of the proprietor, however advised parents to know their teen’s friends, pay attention to their whereabouts,  provide support and set a godly example for them at all times.

    He also urged the youths to always spend quality time with trusted friends only, and advised them that drugs was never a solution to personal problems .