NDLEA to build drug rehab centres

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said it will build a drug rehabilitation centre across the country starting from Abuja.

Chairman of the agency, Col Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (Rtd), made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja at the commemoration of activities marking the 2017 International Day against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking, themed ‘Listening to the Children and Youth is the First Step to Help Grow Healthy and Safe’.

“The drug conundrum is in two parts, interdiction which results to prosecution. The other is the part that entails rehabilitation of the misguided youth. Rehab centres are a necessity. At the moment, there is not a single rehabilitation centre in Nigeria, even as the youth make up 70 percent of our population and indeed constitute the vulnerable group.

“It is to fill this gap that NDLEA is proposing to build a standard rehab centre in Abuja for a start. Already the minster of the FCT has assured that land will be made available. For all intent and purposes he is the first donor,” Abdallah said.

He lamented that children as young as 13 years are already having problems of drug and urged parents to up their responsibilities by protecting children against drug abuse and other bad influences.

The FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello called for drastic actions against drug abuse, saying the country cannot afford to be consumed by drug problems.