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From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The Emir of Dukku Emirate in Gombe State, Alhaji Haruna Abdulkadir Rasheed, has warned dealers of illicit drugs in his domain to repent and be a good ambassador of themselves that is even as he announced that plans are underway for the emirate council to fetch out such dealers.
The royal father stated this at a sensitizations program which was organized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in collaboration with the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicines (NAPPMED) in Dukku Local Government Area (LGA) of Gombe State.
He enjoins participants at the event, who were mostly members of NAPPMED to know that they have a stake in most social-vices and other unrest that is being recorded in the state. He said: “You cannot be vending and distributing illicit drugs to people and expect yourself to be above suspicion in whatever your victims venture into”. Hence the Emir urged NAPPMED to use its in-house system to checkmate those involve in the nefarious act and get rid of them.
Daily Sun gathered that the menace of sales and use of illicit drugs is on the increase across Gombe state. According to the state command of the NDLEA, no fewer than 286. 225 kilograms of illicit drugs were seized between January and early December in the state and that the rate at which pharmaceutical drugs are being consumed among women and youth in the state is alarming.
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Mr. Olise Emeka Okafor is the Assistant State Commandant of NDLEA who lamented the sudden shift from the use of Cannabis-sativa to more of pharmaceutical products in the state. He told Daily Sun that the sensitization was to remind members and the leaders of NAPPMED of their role in ensuring a drug-free society and to also know what it means to deal in the distribution of illicit drugs in the society.
“Of the total of 286. 225 kilograms of illicit drugs that were seized from January to early this December 2020 in Gombe state about 99.228 kilograms were of pharmaceutical drugs and it shows that the rate of the consumption of pharmaceutical drugs is higher when compared to that of cannabis-Sativa that is being planted in Nigeria,” Mr. Okafor stated at the sensitization program.
On his part the Gombe state commissioner for health Dr. Ahmed Muhammed Gana who was represented by Pharmacist Philemon Idi Sokyes, explained that in the fight against illicit use of drugs, prevention is better than cure. “It is no longer news that our streets in Gombe state have been infiltrated with all kinds of illicit drugs due to our actions or inactions as stakeholders.
“Therefore it behooves on us to put our hands’ deck to see the decline of this evil as we accept responsibilities to adhere to the rules and regulations regarding the sales and distribution of these substances,” Dr. Gana said.
