Mrs Obot Bassey, the Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Akwa Ibom, has decried the high rate of drug abuse in the state.

Bassey gave the remarks during the 2025 Feast of Barracuda in Eket on Monday, with the theme: ?High cost of getting high: Unmasking the real price of drug abuse?.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), also known as Pyrates Confraternity, Atlantic Shores Deck, Eket chapter, sponsored the event.

Bassey, represented by Mr Ojukwu Obidi, the Area Commander, Eket command, said that the level of drug abuse in the state was alarming.

?In Akwa Ibom alone, the rate of drug abuse is very high.

?Nowhere I have been to, that I have seen the number of mentally challenged people that I can compare to what I have seen in Akwa Ibom.

?Drug abuse is alarming in Akwa Ibom because some indigenes have normalised the usage, they see it as nothing, they see it as a way of promoting the economy and sustaining themselves,? Bassey said.

She lamented that young adults took a substance popularly known as ?combine?, adding that combine was made up of Marijuana and alcohol, which could lead to mental health challenges.

?If you go to social gatherings in Akwa Ibom, hardly you will not see young adults taking ?combine? and you know that their genetics are different, which leads many of them suffer from mental breakdown,? she said.

The State Commander said that NDLEA had seized over 804 kg of hard drugs in 2025 alone and convicted 38 people who are currently serving their sentences.

?This year alone, we have arrested 312 suspects in Akwa Ibom. If you look at the people we have arrested already, the cost to their families and communities are very high,? she said.

According to her, violent crimes are increasing, such as kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery, due to drug abuse.

Bassey appealed to the association to assist the agency in logistics to carry out their mandate effectively.

She said that part of the agency?s weekly programmes was embarking on sensitisation to disabuse the minds of people of drug abuse in the state.

Bassey also expressed dissatisfaction that the country is losing its young ones to drugs.

She thanked the association and NDLEA for the drug advocacy to reduce the national crisis being faced in the country due to drug abuse.

In his welcome speech, Idongesit Ifon, the President of NAS, Pyrates Confraternity Atlantic Shores Deck, Eket, said any member caught peddling or using drugs would be expelled.

?My members do not get involve in drugs, anyone that is caught, would be expelled from the association,? Ifon said.

The President said this year?s theme was not only timely but urgent.

Ifon said the country and communities were witnessing the corrosive effects of drug abuse from shattered lives and broken families to rising crime, poor mental health and weakened institutions.

?It is a growing menace that demands collective awareness and deliberate, strategic intervention,? he said.

He said that the fish barracuda was a feared predator, swift, cunning and destructive, adding that it lurks beneath the surface, striking at will and making the waters unsafe.

?But when the barracuda is caught, when it is subdued. It is a moment of triumph and celebration because peace returns to the waters,? Ifon said.

Ifon, while speaking on the feast of barracuda, said that it had come to symbolise all the ills, injustices and forces of oppression that threaten the attainment of a just and egalitarian society.

He urged the people to engage fully, listening, learning, asking questions, and challenging, as the battle against drug abuse requires all hands to be on deck.

?Let the feast mark a turning point in our shared fight to protect the vulnerable, uplift our youth and restore dignity to our society,? he said. (Vanguard)

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