145
OWERRI- The Imo Government says it will effectively collaborate with the northern community in the state to fight against the abuse of drugs and other substances.
The Special Adviser to Gov. Hope Uzodinma on Narcotics and Illicit Drugs Monitoring, Chief Ezechukwu Obonna, said this, on Saturday, when he visited the Sarkin Hausa of Imo, Alhaji Auwal Baba-Sulaiman, in Owerri.
Obonna, who thanked the northern community for “agreeing to a healthy collaboration”, expressed the confidence that the community’s leadership would provide the necessary support to enable the government to address the menace.
He said that available statistics indicate that most of those engaging in crime do so under the influence of drugs.
According to him, the fight against drug abuse is part of a broader effort by the Gov. Hope Uzodinma-led government to tackle insecurity through a preventive approach.
“We warn all illicit drug peddlers and consumers in Ama Hausa (Hausa community) and all other parts of the state to desist forthwith or get ready to face the law.
“This effort is a preventive measure against crime and insecurity, and having got the nod of the leadership of this community, we have no doubt that we will achieve our aim,” Obonna said.
Speaking, Baba-Sulaiman said that the community, under his watch, would firmly support all healthy initiatives of the State Government, including the fight against drug trafficking and abuse.
He, therefore, directed his palace officials to ensure that the warning was passed to all the settlements of the northern community in Imo.
He called for more sensitisation of members of the community so that nobody would claim ignorance.
Also, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Northern Affairs, Alhaji Sulaiman Ibrahim, said that the community would deplore its local vigilance group, youths and all legal mechanism to collaboratively fight drug abuse with the State Government.
The Secretary of the Northern Community Youths, Mr Munkailu Sadiq, described the collaboration as “healthy”.
Sadiq expressed the belief that it would “definitely reduce the scourge of drug abuse to the barest minimum”. (NAN)
