Member representing Etinan/ Nsit Ibom/ Nsit Ubium Federal Constituency, Mr Onofiok Luke has warned about the increasing indulgence of the populace in hard drugs consumption in Nigeria.
Delivering his remarks as Chairman at the 5th National Symposium on Drugs and Drug Policy in Nigeria to mark the 30th Anniversary of Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) held in Abuja, Luke said; ‘The situation should raise concerns among policy makers and among parents, most of whose children are vulnerable, and could slip into the unhealthy drug consumption vortex’.
Citing statistics to back up his position, the lawmaker said that the situation is worrisome and needs to be urgently addressed. According to him ‘the statistics are scary, to say the least, considering the impact of drug use on the economy, productivity, the gross domestic product (GDP), crime, law enforcement and governance’.
Luke attributed several crimes committed in the country to hard drugs. ‘Of course there is a broad consensus that many crimes committed in our society involve individuals who are under the influences of either alcohol or drugs. In other words, there is a nexus between both drugs/alcohol and crime’.
‘The above situation should impel government and policy makers to make available funding to establish treatment facilities and to support and expand existing ones like the Drop-in-centres, which were earlier initiated and supported by the European Union/United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (EU/UNODC)’ , Luke added.
He commended the Executive Director of CRISA, Prof. Isidore Obot for the great work his organisation has been doing in this regard. ‘We wish to use this platform to commend the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA), for its commitments of time, material resources, intellectual resources and energies to finding solutions to these social problems over the past thirty years’.
‘We are hopeful that the outcomes of recent research around this subject will point us to the way forward’, Luke said.
He also thanked the organisers for availing them this platform to learn from very distinguished scholars, policy makers and experts on very delicate issues that are fast gaining attention within the populace.
The event had in attendance the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Gen. Muhammad Buba Marwa(Rtd) Former Military governor of Lagos State and other dignitaries.
