The family, school system, faith-based organisations, community groups, traditional institutions and government have been urged to collectively save Nigeria from the destructive impact of substance abuse by its young population.
A group, Rescue Nigeria, through People’s Parliament, a quarterly public discussion by Nigerians at home and broad about important problems facing the country, added that Nigeria could easily experience pervasive violence, crime, wasteful expenditure and broken homes.
Describing how disturbing the menace has become, one of the panelists and Director of Media and Advocacy at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Femi Babafemi, noted that five years ago, more than 14 million Nigerians were already using illicit drugs, three times the global average.
Other panelists include consultant clinical psychologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr. Charles Umeh; sociologist and lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University, United Kingdom, Dr. Gbenga Shadare and mental health advocate and founder of David Folaranmi Foundation, David Folaranmi.
The forum has been organised for almost two years by the Initiative for Good and Informed Citizenship, a civil advocacy group established to educate and empower Nigerians about social and political issues.
According to Folaranmi, who recovered from substance abuse before being trained by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), kids, as young as 11 years, are now abusing substances.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics has commended the NDLEA leadership for its unrelenting war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking. It equally assured the agency of continued support.
The assurance was given after the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), briefed the panel on activities, challenges and achievements of the organisation in the last 34 months in Abuja.
He said the global supply and demand of illicit drugs, including opioids and synthetic drugs, had worsened the world’s drug problem, with devastating impact on people and their well-being across borders and continents.
Marwa added that the scourge is at the basis of security challenges facing not only Nigeria, but also other nations and as such, no effort must be spared in addressing the problem.
He highlighted some of the challenges facing the agency to include: inadequate funding, dearth of standard rehabilitation centres, lack of operational boats and vehicles, forensic laboratories and poor salary structure for personnel.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo said: “I want to assure you that the newly inaugurated members of the committee are fully committed to working with the NDLEA.”
