Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
The federal government said that it had put in place a number of measures to curb the menace of drug abuse across the country.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made the disclosure Wednesday, while declaring open a three-day annual workshop of the Civil Society Network on Substance and Drug Abuse in Abuja.
The SGF, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office (GSO), Mr. Olusegun Adekunle, said that the scourge of drug and substance abuse in the country was posing a serious challenge to the primary healthcare facilities.
He also rued the associated negative impact on national welfare and security that the scourge was becoming.
The SGF noted that the scourge had assumed a global dimension such that every responsible government will take appropriate action to root it out of its territory.
He lamented that virtually all segments of the society were impacted by the plague, adding further that its effects on the youths, who are the worst hit was becoming worrisome.
He also noted that many Nigerian youths who were victims of the scourge, were either incarcerated or were on death row in several countries across the world, either as traffickers or as users of these illicit substances.
He called for a holistic approach that would benefit the society and also for posterity and survival of the country.
Mustapha assured that the government will continue to strengthen the nation’s drug law enforcement capacities and capabilities and give attention to preventive measures, while taking cognisance of the health care needs of those that have become dependent on illicit drugs.
The government also thanked the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for the collaboration to tackle the scourge.
It will be recalled that in recognition of the side effects of drug and substance abuse, President Muhammadu Buhari, constituted a two-tier Presidential Intervention Structure on the Elimination of Drug Abuse which comprised
of an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse chaired by the SGF and the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse chaired by Brig. Gen (rtd.) Mohammed Buba Marwa.
