Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday cautioned Nigerian youths not to allow hard drugs destroy their future and potentials.
He also charged that every Nigerian should be involved in the current efforts to tackle hard drugs consumption in the country.
The former President gave the advice in katsina in his remarks at a one day dialogue on how to tackle the involvement of youths in the consumption of hard drugs in Nigeria.
Buhari who was the Special guest of honour at the occasion which was put together by the Katsina Consultative Forum, assured that he would not relent in his efforts at ensuring that Nigerians especially the youths are discouraged from hard drugs consumption.
He declared, “Our youths are valuable assets in our future.We cannot allow drug abuse to rupture their future.” We should not run away from our responsibility. We need to confront this issue of drug consumption and abuse by our youths.
“To our youths, your future and potentials matter most.Believe in yourself; believe in your ability and believe in your future.Dont allow drug abuse to ruin your potentials and your future. ” To our leaders,we all have roles to play .We should invest in our youths ,provide employment for them and ensure that they are positively engaged.I will not relent in doing this.”
The Guest lecturer at the occasion, Dr Usman Bugaje, had earlier in his paper, declared that the fight against hard drugs consumption by the Nigerian youths should begin from community level.Bugaje titled his paper “The Drugs Pandemic and the Future of Nigeria : A discourse on the Diffusion ,Depth and Dangers of Drug Addiction in Nigeria and the Possible ways out.”
He observed that the current rate at which the Nigerian youths were involved in hard drugs consumption must be of concern to all ,including parents,security agencies and traditional leaders.
The former House of Representatives member and the All Nigeria Congress ( ACN) Governorship candidate in katsina state declared” The message of this paper is that the Nigerian drug problems is the one thread that runs through all its decaying institutions and fuels the continuing conflicts and insecurity in the country.
“At the moment it is the greatest threat to its survival as a country. Therefore ,for Nigeria to survive and thrive, the menace of drug trafficking and consumption must be addressed squarely.It is a natural emergency.
” Unfortunately,those we are waiting for to act are either under the influence of drugs or are benefitting personally from the drug enterprise. So we can not wait for them,rather we have to start the fight from its base i.e,the community. Once the communities rise against drug abuse ,the game will change and we will have an opportunity to re-set governance to give the issue the priority it deserves. “Discussants at the occasion also called on the government at both the state and Federal levels to play active roles in the current fight against drug consumption in Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Katsina Consultative Forum, Alhaji Aminu Danmusa, assured participants that the Forum would package the various suggestions and recommendations arrived at during the dialogue and ensure that various stakeholders including the government implement them.
“Let me assure you all that your valuable suggestions and recommendations would be packaged for implementation by the various stakeholders including government. We shall ensure that we follow up with your recommendations,” he declared.
