Students, security groups at road walk seek end to cultism, drug abuse

Traffic on the Ikeja axis and its environs were disrupted at the weekend as students of different senior and junior secondary schools across Lagos State and security operatives took to the street to seek an end to the spate of cultism and drug abuse in schools and communities across the state.
 
Schools in attendance included Ikeja Senior and Junior Grammar School, Unity Senior and Junior High School, Ikeja College Junior Grammar School, Ewutuntun Junior Grammar School and Comprehensive Senior High School, Ikeja, among others, as well as officers of the police force and other security agencies. 
 
The anti-cultism and drug abuse awareness walk, which was organised by the Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) in collaboration with the Policing Community Relations Committee (PCRC), Lagos, took off from Ikeja Club to the Police State Head Quarters, Ikeja.
 
Speaking at the event, the State Intervention Lead, NPP, Tosin Osasona, lamented that the spate of cultism and drug abuse among students is endemic, noting that these twin evil, which is fast eating deep into the moral fabric of the society, needs to be addressed timely. He said the increasing effect of these activities in the society requires a change of strategy to tackle it, in which multiple stakeholders should be engaged, including schools, religious bodies, parents and security agencies.
 
He added that the awareness walk was planned to disrupt traffic in the Ikeja axis and draw attention to the rising menace of cultism and drug abuse in schools.
 
Also speaking, chairman, PCRC, Kehinde Sowemimo, stressed that cultism is a crime and those saddled with the responsibility to check crime, particularly the police, need the people’s cooperation and assistance to address the menace. He said because of its devastating effects, “we cannot kept quiet, we need to create awareness, which is what we are doing.”