The Kogi Commissioner for Education, Mr Wemi Jones, has promised the ministry’s readiness to partner the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to reduce drug abuse in schools across the state.
Jones gave the assurance when the NDLEA Commander in the state, Mr Umar Yahuza, led his management team on an advocacy visit to the commissioner’s office on Tuesday in Lokoja.
The commissioner decried the alarming rate of drugs abuse among teenagers, and stressed the need to do whatever it took to reduce the menace in schools at all levels in the state.
The commissioner expressed readiness of the ministry to effectively partner and collaborate with the NDLEA to sanitise the school system.
According to him, the state has invested so much in education and the ministry will not allow such investment to be wasted by refusing to address the problems of drug abuse in schools.
He expressed worries over the prevalence of drug abuse, especially among female folks, saying the country was sitting on a time bomb that required all hands to be on deck to tackle the menace.
“The Kogi government does not pay lip service to education and will do everything possible to deal with whatever that will hamper growth of education in the state,” Jones said.
Earlier, the NDLEA commander thanked Gov. Ahmed Ododo for prioritising the needs of his people.
He commended the governor for his promise to establish a Multi-Dimensional Drugs Rehabilitation and Skills Acquisition Centre in the state, saying it would serve as rehabilitation and reintegration of drugs abuse patients into the society.
Yahuza noted that the agency was synergising with both public and private schools, churches, mosques, traditional and religious leaders to sensitise and enlighten people within the catchment ages on the dangers of drug abuse.
He emphasised that one of the potent ways to fight crime was by enlightening the people about the dangers in committing the crime.
He, therefore, urged the ministry to partner with the agency to come up with a robust programme of action to sensitise schools and enlighten the people on the dangers of drugs abuse.
Yahuza added that the agency would also educate, rehabilitate and reintegrate those already affected into the society.
He promised that the agency would introduce Drugs Integrity Test to families and institutions to help in curbing the menace.