A medical doctor, Dr Collins Egbeola, has called for urgent action against illicit drug abuse among youths.
Egbeola, who is the Chief Consultant psychiatrist, Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, made the call on Tuesday in a paper he presented at the Kogi NDLEA Command celebration of the UN Day Against Drug Abuse.
Our Correspondent reports that the event, with theme: “Addressing Drug Challenges in Health and Humanitarian Crisis.” was attended by secondary school students, NYSC corps members and Young Pharmaceutical Group as well as other stakeholders.
Egbeola described the rate of drug abuse in Nigeria as “very alarming” and “disturbing” desiring inclusive and desperate measures to save millions of youths from destruction.
“The abuse of legal, prohibited and sychoative substances such as Alcohol, Codeine cannabis sativa, tramadol, crack, cocain amongst others are what negatively affect the human health.
“What people don’t know about these illicit drugs is that their target in the body system is the brain which results to the physical and psychological effects such as mental illness, job loss, family blames/conflicts, guilt and resources wastage, ” he said
The medical doctor lamented the paucity of funds, dearth of treatment units/specialists and stigmatisation as some of the barriers in treatment of drug addicts in the society.
He said that family physicians, parents, schools, community/religious leaders, government and the media must wake up to the challenge to prevent drug abuse in the country.
“There must be deliberate and careful monitoring of youths by parents and leaders in all segments of the society, counseling and support and intensive education and campaign on the dangers of drug abuse,” he said.
Also speaking, retired Gen. Buba Marwa, Chairman of the NDLEA, said the fight against illicit drugs was a continuous battle aimed at sanitising the Nigerian society of drugs, crimes and criminality.
Represented by NDLEA Commander in Kogi Mr Abdulkadir Abdullahi-Fakai, he said that the Federal Government has approved the establishment of six rehabilitation center across the country for drug addicts.
“Three of the centres have already been captured in this year’s budget of the government, which has also increased the funding of the agency for effective and efficient fight against drugs, ” Marwa said.
Earlier in his welcome address, Abdullahi-Fakai disclosed that between January and June, his command arrested 149 suspects and seized 1,699kg illicit drugs in Kogi
Abdullahi-Fakai described the drug abuse situation in Kogi and Nigeria as a whole as “highly disturbing” and called for collective efforts to tackle it.
Also speaking, the Maigari of Lokoja, His Royal Highness, Dr Muhammad Kabir, Maikaji III, commended the NDLEA boss for his vision and tactics in the fight against illicit drugs in the country.
The Royal Father, who was represented by Alhaji Aliyu Lawal-Illiya, a retired Permanent Secretary, said, “we must not fail because if we fail in the drug war, we are only going to cause a lot of danger and harm to our economy, families and the society.”
Kabir, however, called for more funding and employment opportunities for NDLEA to enable it succeed in the drug war to save millions of Nigerians from being destroyed and stimulate the desired growth and development of the nation.