THE Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano has called on the youths to abstain from drug abuse and trafficking.
He made the call during the 2018 International Day Against drug abuse and trafficking at the Professor Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre in Awka, the Anambra state capital.
Represented by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C-Don Adinuba, Governor Obiano while advising students and youths to stay away from drug, pointed out that it constitutes health hazards and destruction of human development.
He explained that the danger posed by drug abuse was enormous to the society, and appealed to the students to be mindful of the friends they kept.
He said Governor Obiano, has promised to release the three vehicles earlier promised the command soonest and attributed all the crimes and criminality in the society to drug abuse.
In an address, the Executive Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA, Mr Mohammed Mustapha, represented by the State Commander of the Agency, Mr. Sule Momodu, said that the Day founded in 1988 by the United Nations was to highlight the inherent dangers of drug abuse and trafficking in addition to providing educational materials to stakeholders to help amplify the message about the extreme cultural and economic harm the trade in drug is causing across the globe.
Speaking on the theme for this year celebration “Listen First,” Mr. Momodu, called for synergy between the Government, Traditional Rulers and Presidents-General of Town Unions in the fight against drug abuse.
He reveals that the Agency has recorded ten convictions, thirty-five arraignments and over one hundred cases pending at the Federal High Court Awka, in Anambra state.
The Commander who said four laboratories producing methamphetamine in the state had been shut down, explained that the war against illicit drug was a war for all and sundry.
He commended Governor Obiano for his effort in making Anambra safe, describing him as the pillar of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
On his part, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Josephat Akabuike, described drug as an illegal substance that causes addiction, adding that drug abuse has the potential of damaging human life.
Dr. Akabuike emphasized further that the need for both the children and parents to listen first to each other, stressing that, drugs, when misused, could cause a lot of problems to the society.
Two of the students, Miss Happiness Kelechi and Master Chidera Nnamani identified lack of parental care as the main reason why children went into different drug abuse and other crimes and appealed to them to develop a cordial working relationship with their children.
Top Government functionaries, parents, guardians, teachers and students, were among those that attended the ceremony.
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