Benin City- The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), said on Thursday in Benin City, the Edo State capital that over 14.3million Nigerians mostly youths Abuse Drugs.

Speaking at the side-line seminar as part of the 2022 Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament (BOWFT), General Marwa (Rtd) noted that the dire findings from survey made it imperative to clamp down on the abuse and trafficking of illicit substances so as to reverse the country’s exceptionally high drug use prevalence of 14.4 percent.

Represented by Mr Lanre Ogunmosho, the NDLEA boss enthused that for Nigeria as a Nation to move from old ways of tackling drug issues and adopt new measures that are effective to deliver lasting gains there must be social action.

He further stated that in attempt to place greater emphasis on drug demand reduction, activities of prevention, treatment, care and counselling must be taking seriously, stressing that the focus on the Girl Child and young women is strategic in effort to curb the rising trend of drug abuse amongst Nigerians.

” We already know from the National Drug use and Health survey that one out of four users of drug is female. In addition, there is more profound evidence on social media where users upload videos of themselves, a significant number of whom are young girls, abusing various types of drugs including cannabis and methamphetamine”.

” We also have a thriving club culture among youths and our survilliance at NDLEA shows that club goers, majority of whom are young women who regularly come into contact with others use illicit drugs”

” Because of the new trend we now more than ever place greater emphasis on drug demand reduction activities of prevention, treatment, care and counselling. In this regard, the Agency has counselled and rehabilitated no less than 12,326 persons in the past 20 months”

” We note with satisfaction the effectiveness of BOWFT in fighting human trafficking in the state. We are also delighted by recognition from FIFA for BOWFT as a social tool” he remarked.

Earlier, the first lady of Ekiti state, Mrs Bisi Adeleye – Fayemi commended the initiator of the BOWFT, Mrs Betsy Obaseki for her laudable effort in championing course for a better Nigeria, even as she described Drug Abuse as one of the flagship of some of the burning issues they as wives of Governors are trying to tackle.

High point of the event was question and answer session while 30 minute drama on the ills of drug abuse was tele- casted to add spice to the programme.