Ogun State Government has assured the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) of its support to curb drug abuse through effective engagement of Community Development Associations (CDAs).
Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives, Alhaji Balogun Ademola, gave the assurance on Tuesday while playing host to NDLEA officials, Ogun State Command, led by the Commander of Nacotics, CN Ibiba Odili, in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Alhaji Balogun said that cooperatives, traders and artisans’ associations would also be involved.
He stated that intensive sensitisation would be needed across the nooks and crannies of the state, assuring that the Ministry would deploy all within its reach to rid the state of drug abuse.
According to him, ‘’I am declaring the readiness of this Ministry to partner with NDLEA by taking the campaign against abuse across the state through the involvement of Community Development Association, Cooperative Association, and Trade and Artisan Association’’.
Speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Fatai Ogunlana, commended the NDLEA for choosing to partner the Ministry in campaign against drug abuse, saying that the agency deals with many associations, which would go a long way at achieving the target results.
Ogunlana, who was represented by the Director of Administration and Supplies, Mr Omoniyi Oyebanji, assured that the Commander and her team would be carried along in all the Ministry’s activities, in order to enlighten the populace.
Earlier, the leader of the team, CN Odili, said the aim of the visit was to collaborate with the Ministry by taking the campaign against drugs abuse among other drug-related issues to the doorstep of people living in the rural areas across the state.
Odili noted that drug abuse was a global issue, but it had taken another dimension with recent findings that over 72 percent of women were now using hard drugs among other substance abuse for unknown reasons.
She pointed out that over 400 people had been apprehended and prosecuted within year 2023, saying over 41 tons of cannabis were also seized within the year in the fight to eradicate drugs abuse in the country.
Highlight of the visit was the decoration of Commissioner as Campaign Ambassador for Stop Drug Abuse in the State by the NDLEA Commander.
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