The Commander, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Abia State, Mr. Akingbade Bamidele, stated this when he spoke at the inaugural lecture of the symposium on ‘Substance Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking for Senior Secondary School Students’, organised by the National Committee on Narcotics and Substance Abuse under the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in commemoration of the International Day Against Illicit Drug Trafficking. Bamidele, who spoke on the topic: ‘Illicit Drug and the Law’, explained to the students how drug abuse impacts negatively on users. He said: “There is a boy at Umuahia, that his father brought to us for counselling.
He sold two Vehicles: a Lexus and a Forerunner worth N7.5 million for N350,000. “Do you know why? The reason is because he was involved in drug abuse and has got to dependent stage where there’s absolutely nothing he cannot sell, just to buy drugs. It was a situation of keep these vehicles for me and just be giving me drugs. You notice when things begin to miss at home, that something is wrong.”
He went further to tell the students that violent crime and drug abuse are very much inseparable and warned them that ignorance of the law is not an excuse. “The cult boys that cut the heads of other students at Abia State University, Uturu and use them for goal post some time ago, were arrested. And when we went and tested them it was clear that they were high on drugs and that gave them the mind to severe another’s head for goals post. “You have to be very careful.
The young man you saw on the screen holding a parcel, was sent to deliver a parcel which he didn’t know much about and today, he’s in trouble. Ignorance is not an excuse in law. The rich will use the children of the poor to do their illicit drug trafficking,” he said.
He further said the NDLEA would follow up the schools that participated in the programme using their special department in charge of such called Drug Demand Reduction Unit to make sure that the drug free clubs are established and also help in its sustainance.
Speaking on the occasion, National Chairman of the Committee of the Narcotics and Substance Abuse of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Carol Iwuoha, said the lecture was shifted from the original date of June 26 till June 29 due to the Sallah celebration. She explained the choice of starting with Abia and then the choice of selecting secondary schools for the lectures.
“Basically first is that I practice here in Abia State. I have practised here for 20 years, so I’ve been here a while. Secondly, Abia is first on the list of the 36 states alphabetically and thirdly, there’s a lot of drug abuse in this state.
“The main idea behind the choice of secondary schools is that these students at their age now can believe anything. They can be easily carried away by peers and still malleable. “If we win them now they can help us propagate the message and that’s why we are saying that they are going to establish drug free clubs in their schools where they are going to share their lessons and be drivers to saying no to drug abuse.
“The desire to hold this programme came out from the passion for the burden of the NDLEA. They need a lot of collaborators and support from everybody. That’s why we brought the legislature here today so that they can give legislative backing to some of the fights we have to face in this process.
“The reason we had this programme firstly is to support NDLEA. As a matter of fact, it’s part if the National Strategic Plan of the NMA to take up social responsibilities of reaching people with health problems and social problems around us.” Also speaking, the Deputy Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Cosmos Ndukwe reperenseted by his Special Assistant, Mr. Emmanuel Uchechukwu, advised the students to put the lectures into practice. “I want to add a voice to what we have learnt here today.
I want to say to us, as good students of Abia and Nigeria, to put all we have heard here into practice. It was a nice lecture. We must not end the message within ourselves. Carry on the message and save lives,” he charged them.
Dr. Nwahukwu Ugwunna, one of the guest lecturers while speaking on the topic:
Social Problems of Drug Abuse, said: “All drugs are dangerous, but some drugs are more dangerous than the others. Take a look at this, illicit drugs kill an estimated 17,000 Americans annually. What does that tell you? No body is immunised against the dangers of drug abuse.
“Hard drugs makes one socially backward and apathetic. Even those from more develop countries you may aim to copy due to communication exposure to their lifestyle, die of it. So why copy a path that leads to destruction? As adolescents, you’re in a crisis period and the only way to survive it is to avoid drugs in its entirety.
Lekouwa Ebenezer David, a student of Dority International Secondary School, Aba commended the idea behind the and acknowledged what he has learnt.
“This lecture is good for us. I’m sure most of us don’t use drugs yet and this lecture will go a long way in ensuing that most of us don’t get into drugs as we heard, watched and seen the consequences of drug abuse and most importantly, how people are lured into the act of drug abuse.
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