The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency,
NDLEA, announced that Nigeria has the highest number of persons serving
jail terms for drug related offences worldwide.
Iweajunwa Okechukwu, the NDLEA commander in the state
disclosed this while celebrating the 2015 UN Drug Free Day in Minna on Friday.
“There is no doubt that as a country, the menace of drug
abuse and trafficking is one of the biggest problems staring us in the face
today.
“All over the world, Nigerians are notorious for drug
trafficking. We have the highest number of traffickers serving jail terms more
than any other country in the world,’’ he said.
This year’s Drug Free Day is tagged: “Let’s Develop
our Lives, our communities and our identities without drugs’’.
Okechukwu said that the recent Indonesian incident
involving Nigerians was a pointer to the claim.
He said that in Niger there was a serious issue of
drug abuse, especially the prescription drugs and psychotropic substances such
as tramadol, rohypnol and diazepam.
According to him, other drugs abused in the state
include Librium, cough syrups with codeine, sukudia (suck and die), glue,
solutions, petrol, gutter dirt, zakami, lizard dung and cannabis sativa (Indian
hemp).
He said that the harmful habit was common among the youths,
married women, secondary school students and primary school pupils.
The agency’s commander urged parents, teachers,
religious leaders, state government and traditional leaders to see drug abuse
as a societal problem that must be tackled by all stakeholders toward
minimising it.
Okechukwu advised the people of the state to desist
from abusing drugs and report illegal drug dealings to the agency.
NAN
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment