By Mark Mayah
Wife of the Kebbi State Governor, Hajiya Zainab Nasare Nasir Idris, has pledged to provide additional rehabilitation centres for drug addicts in Birnin Kebbi towards making them gainful members of the society.
The state First Lady, who is the Ambassador Against Drug Abuse, made the pledge at the NDLEA multipurpose hall in Birnin kebbi during a Lecture in continuation of the commemoration of the United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking.
The First Lady Represented by the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Nura
Bala Fingila, further pledged to renovate the women rehabilitation centre gutted by fire at the NDLEA office in Birnin Kebbi.
In his submission at the lecture the state Commander, National Drugs Law and Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Sulaiman Usman says, there is strong correlation between drugs and violent crimes because the usage of illicit drugs enables criminals to acquire boldness and recklessness for their operations.
“Recently, a young drug addict around the Koko area in Kebbi dumped his mother inside a well and later began to inquire about her whereabouts”.
“The use of drugs also diminishes the conscience of criminals, takes away rational and logical reasoning, kills passion and compassion, makes them fearless, lawless and reckless as exemplified by the activities of political thugs, armed robbers, kidnappers, bandits, cultists, terrorists, militants and prostitutes”, the Commander complained bitterly.
Usman Suleiman made it clear that tackling drug abuse and trafficking was most obligatory to stem down the rate of criminality and other social vices wrecking havoc in the state.
“NDLEA in Kebbi has succeeded in destroying drug joints in the state capital, Birnin Kebbi and environs, many drug dealers who bring in different kinds of drugs from neighbouring states and countries have been apprehended”,he said
” Border sharing with one of the countries designated as drug hub in West Africa makes Kebbi State highly vulnerable as most of the drug activities in the state are attributable to this factor”, he announced.
Substances commonly abused in Kebbi State, according to the Commander, are tramadol, codeine, Benzodiazepines, Exol 5, methylamphetamine, (met, ice), Kurkura (herbal mixture) and the most worrisome, Pentazocine injection, coupled with the mighty cannabis and shisha mixed with cannabis and tramadol.
The Commander requested the Kebbi State Government to resuscitate the State Drug Control Committee and make it effective in line with the requirements of the National Drug Control Master Plan to sharpen the war against drug abuse.
The Chairman of the occasion, the Commissioner for Works Transport, Engr. Umar Faruq Muslim, emphasised the importance and necessity to wipe out drug abuse in the society without which the nation could not attain greatness.
“issues of drug abuse and trafficking are disturbing to everybody, the population cannot be agile with drug abuse, all hands must be on deck involving the government, parents, teachers, lecturers and stakeholders to surmount the problem”,
“Before now, we find youths mostly involved in drug abuse and addiction, but at present, young children including minors and girls are substance abusers”, the Commissioner lamented.
In a remark, the Judge in charge of the Federal High Court, Birnin Kebbi, Justice Emmanuel Gakko, described the scourge of drug abuse as all pervading nationwide and globally which required combined effort to eradicate.
Justice Gakko informed the audience that the law on punishment against drug trafficking has been amended to include the death penalty.
He therefore advised the Agency to liaise especially with the Customs Service to receive logistics reinforcement through benefitting from auctioned seized vehicles.
