NDLEA calls for more rehabilitation centres to combat drug abuse

Abayomi Elias

National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has called on well-meaning Nigerians and the government to invest in building rehabilitation centers nationwide.

The appeal aimed to address the growing issue of drug abuse in Nigeria and provide support to those struggling with addiction.

ACN Adewole Timothy, the Area Commander, Ikeja NDLEA, made this passionate appeal at the maiden edition of the Security & Safety summit organized by the Torchlight, an online News platform focused basically on security and safety affairs.

Adewole, in an interview with journalists after his presentation, among other things, said that the reason and the cause of drug usage among youths and the prevention mechanism were among the messages he shared with participants. He also talked about the negligence of parents and teachers in the school, the communities and leaders and how to prevent drug usage using earlier intervention.

“When you know somebody is on drugs, you don’t cover him or her. Expose him or her. How do you expose him, take him for rehabilitation?

“We know that he or she will get out of the problem. If you keep the problem with him or her, it will escalate to a very big problem.

“This is why we are here today. We have been going to schools, we have been advising and talking to our children, from primary school to secondary school, even to tertiary institutions.

We carry out over two hundred sensitisation programs every month. Over two hundred programs on how to talk to people.

“We talk to people in society, workplaces, because when the therapeutic message sinks in, they won’t go into it. They know who is into drugs. When they are coming close to them, they would know who to run away from.

“We would not want them to experience the experimental stage. That can lead them to a problem. We wouldn’t want them to start it.

“How many private rehabilitation centers do we have? How many government rehabilitation centers do we have? How many counselors in that area do we have? How many trained officers in that area do we have?

“That is where the problem lies. If individual who can build and supply refuse to do, it will continue to affect but if they can do it, build the rehabilitation centers, employ qualified counselors, provide games that they can engage in, from there, wwe will spot a lot of talents, which we will focus on to distract them from the bad activity they have been engaging in.

“By the time we, the parents, let them know that ‘gateway drugs’ like cigarettes and alcohol are not good at an early age, they won’t want to experiment, and they will be able to spot who to run from that are already in the act”. He said

The convener, who is the Publisher of Torchlight Africa and Vice Chairperson of the Nigeria Union of Journalism Correspondence Chapel, Fanayajo Ranti Juliet, shared with journalists what inspired the event.

“This is the maiden edition of Torchlight. Some months ago, I thought about safety cultures. I came across people who don’t care about their marriage, their lives, their community, education, etc.

“Most of us are not conscious when it comes to safety, which culminated in why I involved the stakeholders that are presently here to dissect the issue”. She said.