By Felix Khanoba
The University of Abuja (UniAbuja) has marked the 2021 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, with a vow to sustain its zero tolerance to illicit drug use in the campus.
Speaking during an event organised by the University’s International Centre to mark the Day, Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said the institution has put in place laws to curtail the ugly menace of drug use.
“We have made laws approved by the Senate specifically targeting drug abuse, its use, its trafficking, its circulation, its distribution and all the various ways.
“Secondly, we have strengthened the office of university safety in terms of law enforcement application, so that people who embark on it will be detected and prosecuted….
” What we have done too is to declare zero tolerance for drug use in our campus and this has been working and we will continue to emphasise this,” he said.
While commending the Director of UniAbuja’s International Centre, Dr Aisha Sani Maikudi, for organising the event, Prof. Na’Allah harped on the need to raise the institution’s students as global citizens free from crime and drug abuse.
His words: “The global world has enormous opportunities to work together to resolve human challenges and the University of Abuja has determined strategically that we are going to be part of the globe.
“We are doing this as part of the goal of the world to stop drug abuse. We must know that drug abuse is at the centre of a lot of crises. A lot of crises that are destroying our nation.
“You see young people with a lot of future, some of them missed their destinies prematurely, some of them are destroyed because they depend so much on drug, some of them because of drug they resort to all kinds of illicit behaviour, they rape women, they kill people, there is nothing they don’t do and they are totally incapacitated.”
Also speaking, Director of UniAbuja’s International Centre, Dr Aisha Maikudi, called on students and youths to shun drugs as it can easily mar their future.
She said the Centre decided to organise the programme, which has its theme as ‘Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking: Consequences and Solutions, to sensitise new students on the ills of illicit drugs and the institution’s zero tolerance to such practice.
“This is the stage where they may experience the first taste of highly addictive and disastrous habits like drug intake, smoking, and alcohol consumption,” she said.
Maikudi called on the new students not to be allowed to be negatively influenced by peer pressure to cave in into drug use.
One of the keynote speakers at the event and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohammed Sokoto, lamented that some youths continue to embrace illicit drug use despite its visible negative effects.
Represented by Director of Narcotics, Labbo Suleiman, the commander likened the increase in violent crimes in the country to drug abuse, adding that millions of young Nigerians are caught up in the ugly web.
Other speakers at the event include Dr Akanidomo Ibanga of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Dr H. A. Apeh, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, UniAbuja and Mr Adewale Odeleye of Legal Advocacy Response to Drug (LARDI).
