SILEC Initiative takes campaign against drug abuse to Niger Delta youths

SILEC Initiative and Foundation has taken the fight against drug abuse to youths in the Niger Delta region.

The campaign tagged: “Save Our Youths, Save our Economy”, which took place in Asaba, the capital of Delta State, is aimed at eradicating the high incidence of social vices among the youths in the Niger Delta creeks.

According to reports by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) nearly 250million youths are affected globally, with Africa being the second largest continent with over 28million youths who are drug abusers.

The report further revealed that amongst 30 countries, Nigeria is rated number three as one of the most Marijuana Smoking Countries in the world with 14.3 percent in Africa.

It is also on record that Nigeria has the highest number of drug convicts in the world, with reports from Amnesty International revealing Nigeria to have the second highest number of death sentences with 527 persons in the world behind China.

The founder, Mr. Sunny Irakpo, said there was need to engage in the fight against drug abuse as statistics worldwide have shown that youths between the age brackets 12-30 years are the worst victims.

“In Nigeria, Presently, statistics have it that one out of five student of the senior secondary schools smokes marijuana with many street names such as Igbo of which three out of ten experience Brain damage. Over 3million bottles of codeine cough syrup is abused daily by the youths, with increased fear of losing these promising young and energetic Nigerians to substance abuse,” he said.

He said this menace prompted the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who through his official Facebook page, expressed the spate of drug abuse amongst the youths particularly the northern region of Nigeria, “with comment to urgently address this enemy crippling our society”.

Irakpo added that Lagos, Delta, Bayelsa, Rives, Kuduna, Anambra, Ogun, and Borno State have topped the list, calling for collective efforts to help rid the nation of the menace of drug abuse among youths, which could lead to their death.

“The importance of our programmes and projects in our society is timely and necessary, we must secure the future of our youths from moral decay, decadence and destruction. We encourage our students to focus on their studies and shun any form of social vices such as Drug Abuse that has led many promising youths to their early graves,” he added.