Zaria monarch backs FG on codeine import ban

A traditional title holder in Zazzau emirate of Kaduna state, Alhaji Mustapha Ubaidullahi, Marafan Yamman Zazzau, has endorsed the federal government recent ban on the importation, sale and consumption of codeine syrup in the country.
He made this know in an exclusive interview with Blueprint in Zaria, yesterday.
The monarch explained that the decision by the government was a welcome development, saying that the measure would save the lives of many Nigerians, especially the youth and women particularly in the North.
“The increasing spate of illicit drugs’ consumption among youths and women and the proliferation of codeine syrup in all parts of the North is becoming alarming.
“It is worrisome that so many young men and married women have engaged themselves in the consumption of codeine syrup and other dangerous drugs in this part of the country.
“In fact, it is an alien culture to see married women taking codeine substance just to get intoxicated in northern Nigeria.
People in the North were not known with this habit in the past,” he said.
He attributed the high level of criminal activities witnessed in most parts of the North such as the Boko Haram insurgency, increasing rate of armed banditry, kidnapping and wanton killings of innocent people, to the massive consumption of illicit drugs by the youths.
He urged northern leaders, religious leaders and traditional rulers to join hands with government in chasing away the menace by making the drug law practicably effective.
“For us to achieve the desirous result, northern leaders and emirs must rally round to support the law and ensure strict compliance to rid our people from the ugly menace,” he advocated Alhaji Ubaidullahi complained about the attitude of some parents who don’t monitor the kind of friends their children or wards associate with, and called for a change of behaviour.
He admonished all government agencies responsible for effective compliance of the drug law to ensure strict adherence to all the provision of the law.
The traditional ruler warned that nobody shall be spared when caught violating the law, no matter how highly placed in the society