The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has intensified its campaigns across the nine states of the Niger Delta region to end cultism and drug abuse among youths as part of efforts to sustain peace in the region.
The Acting Managing Director, NDDC, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua on Wednesday led officials of the commission to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State where they sensitised students drawn from various secondary schools in the state on the dangers of cultism, drug abuse and other social vices.
The commission, which earlier held similar programmes in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states with support from the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, also distributed educational tabs configured with one-year subscriptions and smart school bags to the students.
Audu-Ohwavborua, who was represented by the NDDC Director of Youths and Sports, Offiong Ephraim, at the one-day seminar tagged, “The Dangers of Drug Abuse and Cultism”, said apart from illicit drugs, students should abstain from taking even pharmaceutical drugs without prescriptions from medical experts.
Audu-Ohwavborua said there is a correlation between drug abuse and cultism stressing that secret cult members were always instigated to engage in social vices under the influence of drugs.
He said: “We have had a problem in this country with drugs and drug abuse. So it is always good to see a medical practitioner or a doctor before you consume anything into your body.
“But the one we feel concerned about is the use of illicit, illegal and all kinds of drugs. We saw that even the students are more compelled to do that than even adults.”
The Bayelsa State Director of the NDDC, Theophilus Alagoa, harped on the need for students and others to avoid self-medication, saying it could lead to their untimely death.
He said: “Some of us are taking it. We may even be taking supplements without prescriptions. It is a serious matter.”
Speaking during the panel discussion, the special adviser to the NDDC boss on Youths and Sports, Udengs Eradiri, said the programme was designed to cover the nine states of the Niger Delta.
Eradiri said the event offered a unique opportunity to educate the youths about the ills of drug abuse and cultism, [thereby] catching them young from secondary schools.
He said as an interventionist agency, it was the responsibility of the NDDC to develop and prepare the young ones for a better future and help them to avoid distractions associated with joining bad gangs.
He encouraged the students to spend their time on the educational tabs and warned them against selling the e-learning equipment.
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