…..As NDLEA Says 40,887 Arrested In Two Years
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
In order to free our society of drugs and make our students responsible,
the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Federal Ministry of Education, said that, they have agreed on mandatory drug integrity test for students of tertiary institutions.
They have also agreed on the review of current secondary school curriculum to include drug education.
The agreement was finalized when the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig.Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), met with Minister of Education, Maruf Olatunji Alausa in Abuja.
Marwa who lauded the minister for his proactive approach to issues in his ministry, highlighted the growing abuse of drugs among the youths.
He declared that the fight against illicit drugs was the souls of the Nigerian youth.
His words “The purpose of this visit is to seek collaboration with this esteemed ministry in our collective efforts towards drug control in Nigeria. Our focus basically will be on schools and educational institutions.
“There are millions of our children that are under the supervision of this ministry, and it’s very critical. The drug scourge, as we all know, is very high in Nigeria.”
He continued: “So, we’re actually fighting for the souls of our children. Now, we also know that the drug use is exacerbating criminal activities. That is, the Boko Haram, the terrorism, banditry, and so on.
“We know that without drugs, they wouldn’t be able to do what they are doing, because they wouldn’t do all these criminal activities in their right senses. So, in our own way, we are contributing to the fight against insecurity in the country. Now, through law enforcement action, we have continued to deal mortal blows to the drug cartels. We know that through the seizures, arrests, convictions, and assets forfeiture, we’re doing our best.
“Supported by President Bola Tinubu, within the last two years, we have made arrest of 40,887 criminal elements, gotten 8,682 convicted and seized 5,507 metric tons of illicit drugs. In fact, from January last year to the present, opioids, that’s tramadol mostly, that we have seized, are in excess of one billion pills, which is worth more than N1 trillion.”
While stating that the President is also queuing behind the Agency to build seven rehabilitation centres in addition to the existing 30 centres in NDLEA commands nationwide, Marwa said that President Tinubu has also approved the construction of one model rehab centre in each of the geo-political zone in the country.
He enumerated three key areas he will want the Ministry and NDLEA to collaborate to effectively check the menace of substance abuse among Nigerian youths. According to him, “the first suggestion we have is for a review of the drug education curriculum in secondary schools. Even though we’re told of the existence of this in the past but because of the complexity of drugs, the dynamism of it, and the new psychoactive substances that have come to play, we feel that it is time to consider a review of this drug education curriculum”, he said.
On the part of the Minister of Education, he lauded Marwa for his steadfastness and commitment to the service of Nigeria. “Thank you for your service to Lagos. And beyond that, General Buba Marwa, has committed his life to serve this country. Since I know him 30 years ago, he’s still serving the country.
