Imo State stakeholders have urged the Federal Government to implement enforcement and preventive measures to curb the issue of drug misuse and illegal trafficking in Nigeria.
The stakeholders includes, the representatives from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Imo State Orientation Agency (ISOA), and Imo State University (IMSU), among others.
They made this call yesterday during a one-day seminar hosted at the university’s Owerri campus to commemorate this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, with the subject “From Awareness to Action.”
The conference was organized by the Psychology Departments of IMSU and ISOA.
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Uchefula Chukwumaeze, while regretting that the upsurge in narcotics consumption, as well as other forms of drug abuse and illicit trafficking, has devastated many Nigerians, especially, the youths, noted that this year’s topic, ‘People First: Stop Stigma And Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention,’ was apt.
Additionally, Dr. Ngozi Sydney-Agbor, the head of the Institution’s Psychology Department, in her welcome address, while lamenting that 275 million people across the world abused drugs, out of which 36 million suffered disorders in 2021, said drug abusers and traffickers should have a rethink, advising: “Every behaviour is learned, including drug abuse, and can be unlearned.
Nkwam Uwaoma, a Clinical Psychology Professor at the University, lamented that the problem began in Nigeria in the 1980s as a transit Nation and that some Nigerians moved from Drug Manufacturer and Consumption to Distribution and Export.
