The Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Kwara Statecommand, Hajia Fatima Abiola-Popoola, has urged the National UniversitiesCommission to make drug tests a requirement for admission into tertiaryinstitutions.
‘Kepuns uo ‘uioll ui stsileuunof said students should pass drug tests before their admission into the universities.
This, she said, would serve as prevention measures as she lamented the increasein the number of drug users in the country, especially females.
“According to a 2018 survey, 14.3 million people are using drugs in Nigeria; oneout of seven persons in Nigeria is a drug user, while one out of every four drugusers is a woman.
“This shows that the society is in trouble. This is because a woman is theadministrator of the home and now that women have started abusing drugs, thenthe society is in trouble,” she said.
Abiola-Popoola harped on the synergy with traditional rulers in the crusadeagainst drug trafficking and abuse, stating that success in the fight depended onthe support of the stakeholders at the behest of the traditional institution.
“The traditional rulers have some control over their people and they are theclosest to the communities.
Whenever they say a word, it almost becomes a law among their people whohold them in high esteem. They have a stronghold of their communities, and thatis why they are very important in the fight against drug traficking and abuse.
We have been making use of the traditional rulers over the years. Whentraditional heads rise in their respective communities against drug traffickers,their people will join them in the fight.
In 2021, the then President, Muhammadu Buhari, launched the War Against DrugAbuse and in launching it, all traditional rulers were represented because the aimof this WADA is community mobilisation, which will be led by the traditionalrulers,” she said.
Abiola-Popoola appealed to traditional rulers to pay attention to theircommunities by placing people in strategic positions to help them gatherinformation on the drug situation and invite NDLEA when the need arose.
The commander said she had earlier visited the Emir of llorin and Chairman of theKwara State Council of Traditional Rulers, Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari,expressed gratitude to the monarch for his support for the new leadership of the agency inthe state.
The Emir of llorin assured us of his support and cooperation. He even promisedthat other traditional heads in Kwara State will support us because anycommunity that we are going into will be informed that we are coming, and this isvery important for us, and we are grateful to the E 8mir,” she said
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