Worried about the high level of drug abuse in the last decade in the Northern part of the country, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Northern Youth Assembly (NYA), has mapped out strategies on how to curb the menace.
A statement jointly issued by its national president and acting national publicity secretary, Ibrahim Waiya and Comrade Adikwu Joshua, indicated that the group is launching a massive campaign that would cover Northern part of Nigeria.
The statement said: “Within the last decade, the involvement of the youths in drug abuse sub-culture has taken a wide and a frightening dimension in the country, especially in the Northern Nigeria. The youth and women, in almost every society of the world, constitute the majority percentage of the population as well as the high risk group, and it is, therefore, for this reason that every sensitive and focused Leadership tends to place a greater priority and emphasis on the future of this class of the population, for the purpose of safeguarding the future of the yet unborn generation and of the country.”
The association, which noted that a recent report showed that the abuse of drugs had become rampant, particularly amongst the youth and women in the North, said it resolved to adopt a collective approach, “whereby all relevant stakeholders can be involved, to safeguard and secure the future of our teeming youths and the country.”
“Drug addiction of whatever type must not be allowed to fester in any society due to its destructive consequences on health and lifestyle. Adolescents and youth of both sexes and between the ages of 15-30 years constitute the high risk group. “Many of the victims of the drug and substance abuse undergo through memory lapses, short attention span, difficulty in concentration, depression, low productivity and the rest.”
The association added that the project would take off in the first week of March, this year, in Kano, before shifting focus to Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa and Zamfara states, respectively, at the first stage.
