?Charge government to step up campaign against it

By GAMBO ARABAT, Lafia

The Chairman House Committee on Narcotic Drugs at the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Adigun, has lamented on the high rate of consumption of Narcotic drugs amongst women and youth in Nigeria, calling on state governors to step up campaign against it.

Hon. Adigun made the call Wednesday during a two-day North Central National Sensitization Workshop on Narcotic drugs in Nigeria which he said has tremendously increased violence and criminality across the country.

According to him! ?I encourage state governors to embark on intensive sensitization on the danger of Narcotic drugs. A state of emergency should be declared on Narcotic drugs across Nigeria. I am appealing to every governor of a state to assist the House of Representatives Committee on Narcotic Drugs toward bringing an end to the menace?.

Adigun, who further emphasized that the issue of Narcotic drugs has constituted a serious problem in the country amongst girls and youth which has resulted to different level of crimes committed across the six geopolitical zones which he opined that the situation is unacceptable and should be trapped down head ward collectively by relevant state governors, religious leaders and mothers for a better future generation of the country.

In his response, the Nasarawa State governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, who described the workshop as timely as well as commended the organizers of the event for their frantic effort towards combating Narcotic drugs across the six geopolitical zones of the country; he lamented that Narcotic drug abuse is a serious concern in Nasarawa State and the country at large which needed the intervention of state governors to provide assistance to the National Assembly Committee on Narcotic and Drug abuse in order to arrest the negative trend in the society.

?This event has created an opportunity to chart the way forward against drug abuse. Now that women are involved in drugs trafficking which has caused serious threat to the family and the society as a whole, I call on the North Central governors to take the crusade seriously,? he added.

Also speaking separately at the event, the Nasarawa State Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Aisha Ruffai Ibrahim, as well as the State Chief Judge Justice Aisha Bashiru, urged mothers to always take proper care of their children. They further lamented on the manner in which some mothers allow their children to roam the streets during school hours even at late hours where kidnappers and armed bandits use them as agents as well as called for a change of attitudes among mothers.

They equally admonished governments at all levels to assist the House Committee on Narcotic Drug Abuse in order to enable them to achieve their desired aim in combating the menace in Nigeria.