The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Anambra State on Security Matters, Hon. Osita Nwoye has called on Anambra Youth to shun any act that could lure them into making use of hard drugs and getting involved in cultism.
He decried the alarming rate at which youth engage in drug abuse and cultism which, if left unchecked, could jeopardise and mar the future of the state and nation at large.
He urged parents and guardians to desist from living a care-free life, rather, they should strive to be good role models to their children and wards, and also ensure that they monitor every of their activity, especially the kind of companies they keep. He noted that young people were prone to distractions and needed to be properly guided.
He posited that drug abuse amongst the youth had brought untold hardship on the nation’s social system, adding that this development has led to escalation of social vices amongst young people such as school dropouts, cultism, prostitution, armed robbery, kidnapping, mental derailment, political thuggery, among others.
He said the impact of drug abuse among Nigerian youths was producing a pool of unemployable and unemployed youth who had become social miscreants, constituting problems to the society and to the government.
He further argued that government alone cannot do everything and thus needs the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders in disentangling the youth from the scourge of drug abuse and cultism.
Nwoye further said that he was working assiduously in collaboration with other stakeholders to organise series of seminars and orientation programmes to educate the public on the dangers and damage of drug addiction and cultism and its effects on young people.
He opined that time has come for all hands to be on deck to fight the social menace of illicit drug use and cultism among the youths.
Nwoye hinted that the menace of drug abuse was being consciously addressed by his office in collaboration with various agencies and institutions like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and other government law enforcement agencies.
He urged Anambra Stakeholders and organisations who are passionate about ending the menace of drug abuse and cultism among the young people, and who seek to partner with the state government, to reach out to his office.
First Published 2020.
