Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has called for adequate funding and equipment of federal and state agencies fighting drug and substance abuse in the country.
It said failure to do so without further delay would amount to handing the future of Nigeria over to grave danger and uncertainty.
The spokesperson of the CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman said the drug situation in Nigeria, especially in the northern region, was one of the most serious social and security challenges facing the country, hence it needs to be tackled robustly and defeated once for all.
At a sensitisation lecture on drug abuse and proliferation of dangerous substances among the youths, the CNG spokesman said, “No nation can aspire to greatness or seek to remain secure and safe when its youths and the productive segment of society are left to indulge in self-destructive practices like drug and substance abuse.”
Suleiman who was the guest speaker at the lecture organised by Zaria Local Government Students Association said, “Apart from the sporadic armed conflicts that occur now and then in different parts of the country, the drug problem is the simmering tinderbox that is waiting to explode if care is not taken, that would engulf our societies and destroy our families.
“The maxim that says prevention is better than cure should be assiduously applied to this situation. Widespread unemployment, lack of a future for the youth, increasing poverty and a growing sense of frustration and alienation compounded in some situations by illiteracy.”
have become the most disturbing indicators of the downward slide of the economic fortunes of the North and our country today.
“National challenges such as the one we are faced with should not be treated with levity and condescension. Neither should they be seen as affecting only one region or state or, for that matter, one ethnic group or the other. On the contrary, such challenges are cross-national issues that affect every one of us regardless of where we live or come from,” he said.
While proffering solutions to the challenge, the CNG spokesman said meaningful roles for traditional rulers and religious leaders must be found and supported by governmental control, oversight and sanction for infringement of extant rules and regulations.
“In this regard, the roles also of the NDLEA, NAFDAC and the Nigeria Police are crucial in determining the parameters of official action and responses to the threats posed by unbridled availability and abuse of drugs and substances. It is especially important and indeed critical, that the NDLEA and other Federal and State agencies are adequately funded and equipped to meet the challenges that they are supposed to combat and eradicate.
“The strengthening of institutional capacity for fighting any social problem is a national security issue that must also be seen within the ambit of the general well-being of the country and its peace and tranquillity. Abandoning such a serious issue to the wanton vagaries of chance or opportunity is to assign not only this generation but succeeding generations to grave danger and uncertainty,” he said.
