Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says the State Government will
\nwork with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to set up a
\nDrug Rehabilitation Centre in the State.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike gave the assurance when he received on courtesy visit the
\nChairman and Chief Executive Officer of\u00a0 the NDLEA Brigadier General
\nMohammed Buba Marwa (rtd) at Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Rivers State Governor said, often, people think that the fight
\nagainst criminality in the country should be targeted only at bandits
\nand kidnappers with less attention paid to root causes of such crimes,
\nwhich is the use of illicit drugs.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike stated that if concerted efforts are made towards
\nachieving a reduction in the level of illicit drug intake in the
\nsociety, there is the possibility that crime rate will also reduce.<\/p>\n
“It’s most unfortunate that people think that fighting crime is only
\nwhen you fight bandits, and kidnappers. But, nobody wants to understand
\nthe root cause of most of these crimes.<\/p>\n
The governor stated that those who engage in criminal acts such as\u00a0 rape
\nand kidnapping, often do so under the influence of illicit hard drug.
\nAccording to him, if conscientious effort is made to reduce the level of
\nintake of illicit drug in the society,\u00a0 it will also lead to reduction
\nin the crime rate.<\/p>\n
Governor Wike pointed out the need to look at the fight against
\ncriminality holistically across the country with equal attention given
\nto both drug influence and the crime perpetrators.<\/p>\n
“Any government worth its salt would not hesitate to support the agency
\nin order to tackle the issue of drug.<\/p>\n
“For choosing Rivers State first as your first point of call shows how
\nyou take the State, and remembering that this is where your career
\nstarted after your graduation from the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA).<\/p>\n
“As for the rehabilitation centre,\u00a0 we will work that out with the
\nCommander in the State, to see how we can set up a Drug Rehabilitation
\nCentre in the state. We will also give you three Hilux Vans immediately
\nto enhance performance of the agency.”<\/p>\n
Governor Wike decried the state of most institutions and agencies
\nestablished by the Federal Government that are not provided with
\nrequisite working tools to enable them to perform their statutory
\nfunctions.<\/p>\n
According to him, when such institutions and agencies do not have the
\nbasic tools, there is no magic to be done by them in achieving the
\nmandate for which they were established.<\/p>\n
In his speech,\u00a0 the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of National
\nDrug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Brigadier General Mohammed Buba
\nMarwa (rtd.) said after he assumed office five weeks ago, the agency had
\ngone all out to deal with the reduction of drugs supply across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
He stated that there is too much criminality in Nigeria with insurgency,
\nbanditry, kidnapping and rape being caused by perpetrators under the use
\nof drugs.<\/p>\n
“Behind most of this criminality is the use of drugs. Unfortunately,
\nthis is one thing that does not distinguished between communities,
\nethnicity, religion,\u00a0 age or gender.<\/p>\n
“The prevalence in Rivers State, actually, is 15 percent. That is from
\nthe drug survey of the UNODC that was released recently. But it is not
\nthe worse,\u00a0 in fact, it is placed 14 in the country.<\/p>\n
“But a state like Lagos has a prevalence of 33 percent. That, actually,
\nmeans one out of every three Lagosians between the ages of 15 and 64 is
\ntaking something. That is terrible for a country such as ours. Concerted
\nefforts are required to deal with it.”<\/p>\n
He appealed to the Governor to consider setting up a drug Rehabilitation
\ncenter and a State drug control committee.<\/p>\n
In fulfilment of the Rivers State Governor’s pledge to enhance the
\noperational capability of the State command of the NDLEA,\u00a0 the Chief of
\nStaff Government House, Engineer Emeka Woke, on behalf of the governor,
\npresented three brand new Hilux Vans to NDLEA Chairman.<\/p>\n
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike says the State Government will work with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to set up a Drug Rehabilitation Centre in the State.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n