By Ibrahim Mohammed
Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Kwara State Command, Hajiya Fatima Abiola-Popoola, has charged authorities of tertiary institutions to make drug test as parts of the preconditions for admission in the country.
The commander gave the advice during an interactive session with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital on Sunday.
Popoola said the move would scare the teeming population of the youths away form the various illicit substances.
She, therefore, decried the surge in population of youths involved in drug abuse in the country , including female, noting that this trend constitutes a great threat to the future of the society.
She said, “According to a 2018 survey, 14.3 million people were using drugs in Nigeria, one out of 7 persons in Nigeria is a drug user, and it also revealed that one out of 4 drug users is a woman, and this shows that the society is in trouble. This is because a woman is the administrator of the home and now that women have started abusing drug, then the society is in trouble”.
The commander stressed the need for cooperation from traditional rulers in the war against drug trafficking and abuse, maintaining that its success is reliant on the support of all the stakeholders.
“The traditional rulers have some control over their people and they are the closest to the communities, and whenever they say a word, it almost becomes a law amongst their people who hold them in high esteem. They have a stronghold of their communities, and that is why they are very important in the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.
“We have been making use of the traditional rulers over the years. In fact, as part of our mandate and also the people that we grouped as stakeholders in the society, the traditional rulers are part of it. Because when traditional heads rise up in their respective communities against drug traffickers, their people will join them in the fight.
“In 2021, the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, launched the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, and in launching it, all traditional rulers were represented because the aim of this WADA is community mobilization, which will be led by the traditional rulers”, she said.
In her appeal to the traditional rulers, Popoola charged them to pay close attention to their communities by placing people in strategic positions to help them gather information on drug situation in their communities with a view to hinting NDLEA when the need arises.
The commander, who had earlier visited the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, appreciated the monarch for his unwavering support for the new leadership of tthe command.
“The Emir of Ilorin assured us of his support and cooperation. He even promised that other traditional heads in Kwara State will support us because any community that we are going into will be informed that we are coming, and this is very important for us, and we are really grateful to the Emir”, she said.
