An alarm has been set off by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, which said around14.3 million Nigerians are victims of drug abuse.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who said this at the maiden ceremony of the body’s youth programme, tagged, ‘’Catch Them Young,’’ held at the Government Secondary School, Rumuokwuta, Port Harcourt, said research findings showed that one out of every four high-risk drug users had been arrested for drug-related offences.
According to the NAFDAC boss, the arrests included 73 per cent for drug possession, 12 per cent for theft, five per cent for sex work, four per cent for burglary, and two per cent for shop lifting.
‘’Note that this data only shows the number of arrests; if we consider that most crimes are unreported, then we will see that we have a huge problem on our hands,’’ she said.
The NAFDAC chief, however, stated the negative effects of drug abuse on families, society, and the nation’s socio-economic development are adverse, and pointed out that the situation caused NAFDAC to initiate a comprehensive, coordinated, and intensive programme, designed to reduce the prevalence of drug abuse among secondary school students.
