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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, July 26, 2004.
Youth
activity in drugs worries NDLEA
By
Chukwudi Achife
Bureau Chief, Enugu
Youths
and school children are now more involved in the trafficking and abuse of
illicit drugs in Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States, the Chairman and Chief
Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Alhaji
Bello Lafiaji, has said.
At the public
destruction of illicit drugs seized from the three states in Enugu at the
weekend, Lafiaji said several secondary school authorities in the area
were now engaged in a running battle with students who sell drugs in
schools.
Recalling the
arrest in Onitsha last year of a 14-year-old senior secondary student,
Lucy Ugwah, who was trying to smuggle 6.5 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa
while in her school uniform, the NDLEA boss said the ugly trend is
prominent in tertiary institutions where the authorities are battling to
flush out the bad.
He said the
destruction of the seized drugs was the fifth to be carried out this year
alone, stating that 10 and 50 tonnes of illicit drugs were destroyed in
Ogun and Lagos states respectively in the first quarter of this year.
He said NDLEA
accorded the exercise all the importance it deserved because it was one
way of wasting the illicit substances highly prized by the notorious
dealers and at the same time reducing the circulation of the drugs.
Lafiaji
called on the people to rise up to the challenge of ridding the society
of drug addicts and traffickers by offering maximum cooperation to the
agency especially by refusing to lend or lease their farmlands to the
barons and to expose all illegal cultivators and barons in their midst.
He said the
fight against drugs is not government’s alone but that of the people and
he called on corporate bodies, NGOs and communities within the states to
complement the efforts of the organisation in the drive, noting that no
one organisation could be successful in the war against drug menace.
The state
Commander of the agency in Enugu, Mr. Adole Aliyu, said 2.2 tonnes of
Cannabis Sativa, 10.3 grammes of cocaine and 97.1 grammes of heroine were
destroyed on the occasion and called on all citizens to join the
"Drug salvation force" to bring about the desired change in the
society.
He called on
judges and magistrates to offer more assistance to the campaign to
eradicate illicit drugs in the society by maintain tougher positions in
drug related cases, adding that drug traffickers and dealers in the
country have become more "vicious, desperate and determined" to
frustrate the efforts of the NDLEA.
"It
is sad to note that while some of us are committed to the enthronement of
a drug free society, some others are unfortunately hell bent on
inflicting injury on those whom we hope will lead this country to greater
glory in future," he said.
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