The commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kwara State, Fatima Popoola, has said that motor parks in Lagos, Oyo, Abuja and other cities have turned to points of drug shipments.
Popoola said the illicit drug dealers in Kwara State often get their supplies from Lagos, Oyo, Abuja and other sources through commercial bus operators.
She disclosed this in Ilorin at the MTN Anti-Susbstance Abuse Program (ASAP) stakeholder conference themed: “The world Drug problem: persisting issues, new challenges, innovative responses.”
She explained that fighting the channel was most times difficult because some of the drivers, believed to be financially induced, always avoid checkpoints.
Popoola, however, added that aside from the commercial bus drivers, “some peddlers also use tinted SUV vehicles to convey the banned substances.”
She pleaded with corporate organisations to emulate the MTN Foundation in fighting drug abuse among the youths.
She noted that the one per cent deduction after tax annualy, used by the MTN, has gone a long way in settling its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), lamenting that the topical menace has eaten deeply into the fabric of the society.
“It is a known fact that most crimes committed by the youths have underlying drug abuse. We are calling on parents and community leaders to please take due care of their young ones,” she pleaded.
The Kwara State Commissioner for Social Development, Dr Nnafatimah Imam, described the MTN Foundation advocacy conference as laudable and a certain move to ensure drug-free society.
Other speakers, including MTN Foundation officials, agreed on more advocacy attempts in Nigeria to get the youths to seeing the need to shun illicit substances that can hurt the realisation of their potential.
