19th October, 2015
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has rehabilitated 210 drug addicts in Jigawa over the last 20 months.
Mr Garba Abubakar, the NDLEA Principal Staff Officer, Drug Demand Reduction Unit of Jigawa Command, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Dutse.
He said that 138 of the addicts including five females were rehabilitated in 2014 and 72 others including two females were rehabilitated between January and October 2015.
The official said that the agency had counseled parents of the rehabilitated victims not to stigmatise them, so as not to push them back to drug abuse.
Abubakar stressed that it was important for families, friends and communities to show love and care, as well as offer encouragement to the rehabilitated victims, for them to feel secure and quickly reintegrate into the society.
“For such victims to fully recover, they need adequate and proper family care,” the NDLEA official said.
He blamed lack of family care, influence of peer groups and unemployment as some of the factors responsible for drug abuse among youth.
Abubakar said that the agency had been conducting community-based couselling and sensitisation on the dangers associated with drug abuse, adding that the sensitisation had been extended to schools, as most victims of drug abuse were of school age.
Abubakar, therefore, urged all Nigerians to support the agency in the fight against the menace.