NOA takes drug abuse sensitization to secondary schools

Worried about the spate of drug abuse especially among the youth, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has taken its awareness campaign on drug abuse to Secondary Schools in the country.

The Director of Public Enlightenment and Mass Mobilization of the NOA, Mrs Ruth Ogun during the Sensitization exercise at Government Secondary School, Kubwa, Abuja, said the core message is for the young ones to build behaviours that are positive for a good future.

“Our core message to these young ones is that they should build behaviours that are positive for a good future. We are asking them to be responsible for their lives, we are telling them not to allow negative peer pressure, because it is negative peer pressure that makes them engage in very negative vices just like drug abuse which is the trigger for other social vices.

“So, our message is very simple, let them know the positive and the negative and let them take the decision not to go the negative way, so that they can be better beneficiaries of this talk today, and be better citizens for Nigeria tomorrow.

Speaking on monitoring the impact of the sensation, Mrs Ogun said “in the NOA, we have a whole department that we call Planning and Strategy, they go along with us and we give them forms for appraisal after the program.

“So, at the analysis stage, we will know how many people that positively learnt new things and are ready to change. We compile the responses, then we do a broader analysis, that is the basis upon which we further take our program so that we know where there is a gap and where we are succeeding.

Shehu Dankolo, Commander of Narcotics and Principal Staff Officer at the office of Chairman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), said the message is for students to keep off bad friends who can easily influence them into drug abuse.

“My message is that the students should keep off bad friends which is the number one risk factor in drug use among students, curiosity, ignorance and lack of awareness is another contributory factor to drug abuse”, he said.

While lamenting the high level of drug abuse in the country, Dankolo urged schools to continue with sensitization exercises for their students and strengthen drug use laws in their schools.

“Schools should continually bring in experts to come and sensitise the students.

The rapid growth of drug abuse among students today shows that 1 in each 7 between the ages of 15 and 64 uses drugs, and 1 out of each 4 is a woman, so let’s try to bring the figure down to the barest minimum.

“The schools should also have rules regarding drug use, drug tests should be carried out regularly on the students. There should also be regular sensitization and awareness creation on drug use”, he added.

Dike Silas, a student at the school said “I learnt that drug abuse is a bad attitude, I think the government needs to do more to put a stop to drug abuse.

“The government should continue with sensitization exercise in more schools on drug abuse, and engage more security agencies in the fight against drug abuse”.

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