The Federal Government, on Tuesday, flagged off the training of victims of drugs and substance abuse in various vocational skills under the N-Power Programme, as part of ongoing efforts to boost employment generation and integrate them into the society.
According to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, no fewer than 1.5 million youths across the country have benefitted from the N-Power scheme since its inception.
The Permanent Secretary of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr Nasir Sani Gwarzo, who flagged disclosed this in Abuja during the opening of the three-day training on psychosocial support and integration of Victims of drugs/substance abuse organised by the Ministry in collaboration with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Dr Gwarzo who was represented by the Director of Humanitarian, Alhaji Ali Grema, tasked Nigerian youths across the country to “refrain from abusing drugs and other harmful substances as it is very harmful to their health and has the potential to destroy their future.
“It is therefore very important that when we organise programmes such as this, we do so with renewed optimism and
determination. Our youth today must rise to the challenges confronting our society and demonstrate in a tireless effort that we are serious about building a caring and drug-free society.”
He lamented that the “level of drug and substance abuse has reached unacceptable levels in our country, what is more, worrying is that these drugs are targeted particularly at young people in our society.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you will also agree with me that given the enormity of substance abuse in our country, the most effective tool to combat drug abuse is to strengthen prevention programmes because prevention is the best approach. At the same time, we need to ensure that our treatment programmes are effective to help those that are already in the cycle of drug abuse.
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“It is our priority to work together with all concerned to prevent drug abuse and the harm that drugs can do cause to the families and society in general.”
In the bid to address the menace of drug abuse, he noted that: “all hands-on deck to rid our country of drug problems by escalating poverty eradication through N-power programmes, improving education enrolment through
our National Home Grown School Feeding Programmes (NHGSFP), encouraging and improving entrepreneurship through the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and by cash grant to the most vulnerable Nigerians through the Conditional Cash Transfer
programme (CCT).
“This is in accordance to Mr Presidents vision to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030.”
Speaking earlier, NDLEA Chairman, General Buba Marwa, affirmed that the “use of psychoactive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine as well as prescription medications exert tremendous toll on the individual, families and societies. Substance abuse affects the physical, social and psychological levels of the user and family members.
“Substance use prevalence globally including Nigeria is on the increase. Findings from the National Drug Use Survey (2018) conducted by UNODC reviewed that 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15 – 64 years had used psychoactive substance in the past year for non-medical purposes.
“More worrisome is that out of this figure about 370,000 Nigerians have drug use disorder and in every four drug users in Nigeria, one is a woman.”
The NDLEA helmsman who was represented by NDLEA Secretary, Mr Shedrack Usman who applauded the Ministry’s gesture, noted that Vocational rehabilitation helps individuals to build skills in order to prevent relapse after treatment.
“Evidence has proven that unemployment is both a cause and effect of drug use in our society and it is a common knowledge that drug users often lose their jobs or vocation as a result of drug use. Vocational rehabilitation program seeks to restore individuals to their physical, optimal mental, social, vocational and economic ability.”
In his address, Director Social Development in the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Social Development and Disaster Management, Bashorun Taiwo underscored the need for a paradigm shift from the normal campaign against the use of illicit drugs and other substances to providing empowerment opportunities not only to those addicted but also to the suppliers in order to break the supply chain.
Bashorun Taiwo who was represented by his Deputy Director, Mr Sule Aliyu maintained that: “illegal drugs threaten not only the health of our citizens but also the stability and development of our countries.
“Perhaps the most important of these facts is the devastating and undeniable impact of drug use on the lives of people everywhere.
“According to United Nations Office on Drugs Crime (UNODC), over half a million people died in 2019 as a result of drug use.
“In the same year, more than 36 million people suffered from drug use disorders. Liver diseases and HIV continue to be prevalent among people who use drugs, particularly those who inject them.
“It is a fact that only one in eight people with drug use disorders receive adequate treatment, and that women have unequal access to such treatment.
“Therefore, we need to scale up services, ensure that they are available to everyone equally, and integrate them into rehabilitation and healthcare delivery systems and finally into the society with adequate skills and employment opportunities.”
Some of the N-Power schemes designed for Graduates are: N-Tech as support teachers deployed to public primary schools nationwide; N-Agro trained as Agricultural extension workers; as well as N-Health designed for Graduates as public health Assistants, are being paid the sum of N30,000 per month.
The Non-Graduate programmes are; N-Power Build which provides technical and vocational skills in automobile, Agric-Tech, Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical installation, hospitality, Mansory & Tiling and Plumbing & Pipefitting, who are paid the sum of N10,000 monthly.
Others include: N-Knowledge which provides training in N-Tech hardware and software components; N-Power Creative which provides training in animation, illustration/Graphic design, Post – Production, Script Writing and Voice Acting.
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N-Power scheme: FG set to train victims of drug abuse, hands over starter-packs
N-Power scheme: FG set to train victims of drug abuse, hands over starter-packs