NDDC Drives Campaign Against Drug Abuse, Cultism

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has stepped up its campaign against drug abuse, cultism and other social vices in schools across the Niger Delta.
Speaking during a one-day sensitisation campaign against drug abuse, cultism and other social vices in Port Harcourt, the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Engr. Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, said that the Commission would focus on educating young people on the dangers of involving themselves in these vices.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer, who was represented by the Commission’s Director, Human Resources, Dr. Alazigha Woyengibaragha, noted that the campaign with the theme, “The Dangers of Drug Abuse and Cultism,” would help to curb the abuse of drugs and restore some sanity to the youths of the Niger Delta Region.
Audu-Ohwavborua said it was important for youths to avoid drug abusers and called on parents to closely watch their wards in order to guide them away from drug abuse and cultism. “It is our duty as parents, teachers and students to avert the menace of drug abuse and cultism,” he said.
The Rivers State Director of the NDDC, Mr. Orere Imoko, said that the mandate of the NDDC was beyond building physical infrastructure to include building human capacity among the people of the Niger Delta.
The NDDC Director, Youths and Sports, Mr. Ephraim Offiong, reiterated that the Commission embarked on the campaign aimed at secondary school pupils because research showed that drug abuse usually starts during teenage years.
The Assistant State Commander, Rivers State Drug Demand Reduction Unit of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Mrs. Stella-Maris Amede, cautioned youths against the use of illegal and illicit drugs. She advised parents and adults to set good examples for the young ones by living exemplary lives.
The Special Assistant on Youths to the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, warned the students to beware of negative influences from peer groups and focus on their studies if they must become useful members of the society.
He said that the participating students will go home with educational materials, including electronic tablets and smart school bags, and urged them to become ambassadors and advocates of anti-cultism and drug abuse in their respective schools.
One of the students from Degema National High School, Master Kingsley Imeh, thanked the NDDC for organising the sensitisation programme, noting that the students now knew how to keep away from social vices.
Other participating students commended the NDDC for taking practical steps to help the students to avoid the dangers of drug abuse and cultism.
At a similar programme held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, Actung MD of NDDC said the Commission would spare no effort to curb the vices of drug abuse and cultism among students, saying the two vices were destroying the future of the young generation, especially students.
The NDDC Chief Executive Officer, who was represented by the Commission’s Director of Youths and Sports, Mr. Offiong Ephraim, said youths must distance themselves from cultism and drug abuse to enable them contribute to the development of the Niger Delta.
He said that the campaign against social vices was meant to sustain the peace in the region by educating the youths, especially secondary school students on the dangers of cultism and drug abuse.
Audu-Ohwavborua urged them to become ambassadors and advocates of anti-cultism and drug abuse in their respective schools to help their colleagues shun such practices.
Bayelsa Sate Director of the NDDC Mr. Theophilus Alagoa, observed that drug abuse was beyond taking dangerous substances like codeine or smoking Indian hemp. “When you take drugs from chemists or pharmacy without prescription from qualified medical practitioners, you are engaging in drug abuse,” he declared.
Alagoa urged the students to help in spreading the message of the campaign against drug abuse and cultism to their various schools.
The keynote speaker, a Political Science lecturer at the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Dr Philip Okolo, lamented that drug abuse and cultism had become endemic in the Nigerian society.
He warned students to beware of the negative influences from peer groups and remain focused in their studies in order to become useful members of the society.
The Special Adviser on Youths to the NDDC Acting Managing Director, Eradiri, said that the NDDC was determined to help the youths to develop their innate talents. To assist them in this process, he said NDDC was giving the students electronic tablets loaded with educational materials.
One of the students from Government Girls Secondary School, Nembe, Miss Aydelegite Ebikiemo, thanked the NDDC for giving the students the opportunity to learn how to keep away from social vices and promised to be an agent of positive change in her school.
Another student from Community Secondary School, Sabagreia, Miss Gabriel Sarah, said she now knew why it was important to refrain from drug abuse and cultism.