Saraki laments, harps on need to urgently tackle drug abuse in Nigeria

Senate President Bukola Saraki has lamented the dangers abuse of drugs pose in the country and said that it was high time the menace was addressed.

He stated this when he spoke at the Senate Roundtable on the Drug Use Crisis in Nigeria, held in Kano on Monday.

He said, “We are here to wake the nation to the insidious threat of drug abuse, which has, for too long, been the unacknowledged enemy within for us as Nigerians. The time has come to look that enemy in the face and say – enough.”

He told his audience at the event, “And by your standing up to be counted at this Roundtable, it is clear that you share the sense of alarm over this issue and recognise the urgent need to do something about it.

“Of late, my distinguished colleagues and I in the 8th Senate have become increasingly alarmed at the drug abuse epidemic sweeping through Nigerian communities, posing an existential threat to the very fabric of society. The scourge has been of a particularly virulent nature, touching all social strata and afflicting families and young lives. Women and girls are particularly susceptible, married or not. Not even nursing mothers are spared; and future generations are already endangered by the spectre of drug abuse, even while unborn.”

According to Saraki, the decision by the Senate to take steps to tackle the malaise was subsequent to a motion sponsored by Senator Baba Garbai and supported by 40 senators calling for decisive action on the issue.

READ ALSO: Senate uncovers budget padding, as Fashola earmarks N1bn for utility vehicles, office files

He said that already the Senate had passed a resolution on the need to check the rising menace of Pharmaceutical Drug Abuse in the country and have “set up two Senate committees to determine the nature of the problem; and their work is ongoing”.

He added, “This Roundtable is an additional avenue to take the issue to communities across Nigeria, of which Kano is the first of many that we are planning. This is really a moment of reckoning for our country, and it is important that we look unflinchingly at the problem and tell ourselves the truth. It is for that purpose that we have organised this two-day Roundtable; and it is my hope that all participants will make good use of this opportunity, so that we can begin to reverse the grave trend of drug use in our country.”

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now