Maida tasks parents, leaders on menace of drug abuse

From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua Katsina

The Chairman Peace Builders Security Concepts, who is also the Chairman Peoples Daily Newspapers, Malam Wada Maida has appealed to parents, religious, traditional and community leaders to help in addressing the menace of drug abuse in the society.
Maida made the appeal yesterday while speaking at a workshop on the “phenomenon of youth restiveness and drug abuse in Katsina state”, organized by the organization and Katsina state government.
He noted that it was very dangerous to allow the menace of drug abuse to destroy the youth in the society, considering “the economic and educational challenges faced by the country at large.”
The chairman noted the figure from the NDLEA indicating that within a short period of time 653 persons were arrested for drug related offences, adding that more worrisome was that majority of those arrested are within the bracket of 18-35 years of age.
“Even those who are already into drug abuse should be brought back through rehabilitation and engagement with them,” he added.
In his remark at the occasion, Governor Aminu Bello Masari urged philanthropists in the state to find ways of establishing businesses that would provide employment for the teeming youth in the society and make them more productive.
The governor who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the State, Alhaji Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, said the government had since 2016 constituted a joint task force which he disclosed arrested major drug dealers in the state, adding that it helped in reducing the menace of drug abuse in the state.
Masari said that, the government would soon commission a rehabilitation centre it built to assist the state command of the NDLEA in the rehabilitation and reformation of drug addicts.
At the morning session of the event, two papers were presented, Professor Sadiq Isah Radda of the Department of Sociology, Bayero University Kano presented a paper on “youth restiveness as a threat to national stability” while Professor Isma’ila A. Tsiga of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bayero University, Kano presented a paper titled “education and youth development in Katsina state: planning for a stable and prosperous future”.