NAFDAC Raises the Alarm over High Rate of Drug Abuse

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at the weekend raised the alarm over the high rate and prevalence of drug addicts in the country.
The agency noted that Nigeria is leading in the five percent international coverage of drug abuse globally, lamenting that the country currently has 15 percent drug abuse rate.
The Director of Public Affairs, NAFDAC, Dr. Abubakar Ateiza Jimoh, made this revelation during a chat with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Jimoh said the agency has an average conservative estimate of about 15 million people who are on drugs and three million of them can be conveniently called drug addicts.
This development, he said, had made the agency to conclude that the high level of violence, kidnapping,  terrorism, armed robbery and even dangerous driving by some drivers are as a result of the high rate of drug abuse by some Nigerians.

He said most youths under the age bracket of 19 and 22 and even parents-both males and females-have seriously engaged in taken hard concoctions different from the common cocaine and heroin which names could not be ascertained imported into the country from other African countries.

The NAFDAC director, who is also a member of the 28-man Presidential Advisory Committee on Elimination of Drug Abuse headed by General Buba Marwa, said the committee had held series of dialogue sessions with various stakeholders on how to reduce, eradicate, if not, totally eliminate drug abuse in the country.

He said the committee would submit its findings and recommendations to the federal government next month for implementation.