By Muhammad Ibrahim Sokoto
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state has on inaugurated the state’s Drug Abuse Control Committee (SODACCOM).
This was contained in a release by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor Bello Muhammad.
Chaired by the state Commissioner for Health, the committee’s patron is the wife of the Governor, Hajiya Mariya Waziri.
Other members of the committee include:
the Commander 199 Composite Group, Nigeria Air Force Sokoto, the Garrison Commander 8th Division, Nigeria Army Sokoto, the Commissioner of Police, Sokoto state command, the State Director of the Department of State Security (DSS) and the State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
Additional members are: the Customs Area Controller, the Comptroller of Immigration, Sokoto state, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Comptroller of the Correctional Services and the Director of the Nigeria Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
More members are the Director of the National Agency For The Prohibition Of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), the Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Chief Medical Director of the Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), the Managing Director of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kware, Sokoto state and the representative of the Sultanate Council; in addition to nine Commissioners in the state, viz: those of the ministriy of justice, women and child development, basic and secondary education, higher education.
social welfare, religious affairs, careers and security matters, youths and sports Development and information.
Other members of the committee are: the Chairmen of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN),
the National Association of Patent Medicine Dealers, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), a representative of the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The Sokoto state Commandant of the NDLEA is the secretary of the committee, which terms of reference (TOR) are: identifying all drugs of abuse in the state, the sources of these drugs, all the smoking and abuse joints with a view to dislodging them.
Others TOR are: identifying all the illicit drug dealers with a view to arresting them with exhibits for prosecution and subsequent conviction, all the addicts for counseling and rehabilitation; and all the proactive measures that are needed to curtail the sale, distribution, and use of illicit drugs and non-conventional drugs within Sokoto and environs.
In the same breadth, the committee w saddled with the responsibility of advising on how and when to establish War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) clubs in all the primary secondary and tertiary institutions within and outside the state among others.
According to Tambuwal while launching the committee inside the Council Chambers of Government House, Sokoto, drugs and the people who abuse them are increasing at an alarming rate, especially among our youths.
He observed that the trend is more worrisome with the involvement of married and single women in substance abuse, a negative development that cannot be tolerated by any responsible society, he noted.
Tambuwal also maintained that substance abuse is one of the major causes of the socioeconomic problems, including the rising rate of crime and insecurity, ill health, lack of productivity in all sectors and poverty, the state and country are facing today.
The governor explained that he was greatly relieved by the creation of the committee through the collaboration of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
He acknowledged the strides of the current administration of the NDLEA under the leadership of Gen. Buba Mohammed Marwa towards curtailing this ugly trend, through daily arrests, drug seizures and convictions.
With this tempo, he asserts, “there is no doubt that the menace of drug abuse ravaging our society will soon be greatly minimized, if not altogether eradicated, especially with all hands on deck to compliment the efforts of the authorities towards the realization of a drug-free society.”
