As part of integrated effort to combat drug abuse, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Federal Ministry of Education have reached an agreement to introduce compulsory drug integrity tests for students in higher education institutions.
They have also agreed to review the current secondary school curriculum to include drug education.
The agreement was reached when NDLEA Chairman/CEO, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa, led a delegation of his management team to a meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa in Abuja on Wednesday, July 30.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by Mr. Femi Babafemi, the NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, and emailed to Persecondnews, Marwa commended the minister for his proactive approach while highlighting the devastating effects of substance abuse on the country’s youthful population.
He said the fight against illicit drugs is a fight for the souls of the Nigerian youths.
Marwa said: “The purpose of this visit is to seek collaboration with this esteemed ministry in our collective efforts towards drug control in Nigeria. Our focus basically will be on schools and educational institutions. There are millions of our children that are under the supervision of this ministry, and it is very critical.
“The drug scourge, as we all know, is very high in Nigeria. So, we are actually fighting for the souls of our children. Now, we also know that the drug use is exacerbating criminal activities. That is, the Boko Haram, the terrorism, banditry, and so on.
“We know that without drugs, they would not be able to do what they are doing, because they would not do all these criminal activities in their right senses. So, in our own way, we are contributing to the fight against insecurity in the country.
“Now, through law enforcement action, we have continued to deal mortal blows to the drug cartels. We know that through the seizures, arrests, convictions, and assets forfeiture, we are doing our best.
“Supported by President Bola Tinubu, within the last two years, we have made arrest of 40,887 criminal elements, gotten 8,682 convicted and seized 5,507 metric tons of illicit drugs.
“In fact, from January last year to the present, opioids, that is tramadol mostly, that we have seized, are in excess of one billion pills, which is worth more than N1 trillion.”
While stating that the President is also supporting the agency to build seven rehabilitation centres in addition to the existing 30 centres in NDLEA commands nationwide, Marwa noted that President Tinubu has also approved the construction of one model rehabilitation centre in each of the geo-political zones in the country.
He listed three key areas he will want the Ministry and NDLEA to collaborate to effectively check the menace of substance abuse among Nigerian youths.
Marwa said: “The first suggestion we have is for a review of the drug education curriculum in secondary schools. Even though we are told of the existence of this in the past but because of the complexity of drugs, the dynamism of it, and the new psychoactive substances that have come to play, we feel that it is time to consider a review of this drug education curriculum.
“Another area we were thinking of suggesting is to introduce stand-alone drug abuse prevention programmes in schools, secondary schools. Not the curriculum this time, but programmes that stand on their own, lectures, competitions, and involving the parents, and so on.
“And then the third area we were thinking is to adopt a drug testing policy in tertiary institutions, because we want a policy to keep our campuses clean. Several vice chancellors have come on their own to seek both our guidance and participation in conducting drug test for their students.
“So, what we are suggesting now is drug tests for new students, for students returning from vacations, and random tests. This will make the children to avoid taking drugs, knowing fully well that if they do and they are found out, there will be consequences. And the consequences do not necessarily mean rustication.”
Responding, the Minister commended Marwa for his steadfastness and commitment to the service of Nigeria.
He said: “Thank you for your service to Lagos. And beyond that, General Buba Marwa, has committed his life to serve this country. Since I know him 30 years ago, he is still serving the country. And you could see the passion in the way that he laid out the problems in the country and what he wanted us to do.
“And as he was talking, I made note and it was as if I had seen his prepared comments. Thank you so much for making this visit.
“When the youths get into drugs, they will not go to school and even when they go to school, they are not getting functional education. And at the end of the day, what happens? Their level of critical thinking is lower. Their ability to make informed decisions in the later part of their life becomes significantly reduced.
“So, they become unemployable. And what happens? You now have that vicious cycle. They are not functional. They are not useful to themselves. All they do is resort to criminality.
“Once you use drugs, you are likely to have a dysfunctional family. So, it is a huge menace that we need to tackle, and tackle very quickly.”
On the areas of collaboration, the Minister said: “I would suggest we form a technical working group, inter-ministerial working group between our ministry and NDLEA. As a result, I will also like to create a Substance Use Prevention Unit in the ministry.
“We are reviewing the curriculum now for secondary school. And that is why I have asked the director of Senior Secondary School to come, to be here and then we find a way to cascade it down to primary school.
“But we need to get both primary school and secondary school and add this to their curriculum. But the one for secondary school, we can definitely do that now. We are just developing their new curriculum now.
“Also, on the stand-alone school programmes, I agree with you fully. We should also design ongoing programmes in our schools. That we can roll out, and cascade down.
“You also said something very important about the drug test policy in tertiary institutions. We will do it.
We have to do it. We do not have a choice. At least, we will start with tertiary institutions, for their fresh and returning students as well as random testing.”
The Minister also assured that he would secure partnerships between two agencies under the Ministry, UBEC and TETFUND, and the NDLEA Academy in Jos, as part of efforts to deepen drug education in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions across the country.
Following the Minister’s directive, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Abel Oluwamuyiwa Enitan, announced the launch of the new Substance Use Prevention Unit.
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