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Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Leadership of Jamaa’tu Nasril Islam (JNI) has advocated death penalty for drug dealers as one of the means through which the menace of drug and substance abuse can be checkmated in Nigeria.
Also, the leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Kaduna State, has suggested full enforcement of existing laws on drugs, which it believes would, in turn, apply strict penalty on offenders.
The two religious bodies made the calls, yesterday, in their separate meetings with members of Presidential Advisory Committee on Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA), led by Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (retd), who were in Kaduna as part of their nationwide consultations on elimination of drug abuse.
Speaking at the headquarters of JNI in Kaduna, the Secretary-General of JNI, Sheikh (Dr) Abubakar Khalid, said the time has come for Nigerians to address the menace of drug abuse squarely, as done in places like Europe and Middle East.
“I think the matter has gone so terrible and dangerous to the extent that all measures taken have failed. Until a very decisive deterrent variable is taken as done elsewhere, we may not be able to tackle it.
“In Europe, Asia and the Middle East, when the menace reaches this level, it is death penalty or a very draconian legal action with serious imprisonment, and not the way we are toying with it in this country. Those concerned should look into this,” he said.
