According to available statistics one out of four illicit drug users in Nigeria is a woman, speakers after speakers at the launch the Drug Use Disorder Intervention in Nigeria have lamented the increasing problems of drug abuse in Nigeria.
Addressing participants at the event held in Abuja, the Director/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Retired Brigadier General Buba Marwa, said the intervention will contribute to national efforts at ending drug abuses.
The NDLEA boss, who was represented by the Commander of Narcotics and Deputy Director, Drug Demand Reduction, NDLEA, Stella Ngwoke, said the most worrisome is the increasing use of unconventional substances by youths, who in turn become problematic to themselves, their families and the society at large.
He lamented that fourteen point three million Nigerians, aged between sixteen and thirty five, abuse drugs, which are linked to a host of negative consequences, adding that the Drug Use Disorder Intervention in Nigeria project will provide platform for the much needed interaction to curb the menace.
A representative of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Kelias Msyamboza, said there is increase in deaths associated with drug abuses, hence the need for plans to raise awareness on inherent dangers.
Unveiling a raw data baseline survey for the project, the Convener, Dr. Adam Dawud, said the essence of the project was to reduce drug prevalence in Nigeria to five percent by the year twenty-twenty five, by sustaining awareness on the dangers of drug abuses.
Other speakers including, a Professor of Pharmacognosy, at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Umar Katsayae, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, among others, advocated robust partnership between government and the private sector, as NDLEA alone cannot win the fight against drug abuses and trafficking.
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