MTN Foundation in collaboration with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have engaged students of various higher institutions of learning in Kano State in a campaign against drug abuse.
The students who converged at the Bayero University, Kano (BUK), took a campaign walk from the university’s entrance, through the BUK Road to Kabuga Junction and back to the old site campus.
They carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “Be addicted to success not substance,” “One trial can trap you,” “Choose life not drugs,” “Healthy body, healthy mind, no drugs,” “Addiction starts with one wrong choice,” “It takes a community to break a habit” and “Highness no be steeze,” among others.
Speaking during the event, Senior Manger Programme implementation of MTN Foundation, Edward Fagbohun, said the yearly event called anti- substance abuse programme started in 2019, is targeted at young people between the ages of 10 and 25 with the aim of discouraging them from using substances or drugs.
He said the team were at Lagos, Enugu, Abuja and other cities in Nigeria with the sensitization programme, emphasising on the effects and dangers of drug abuse.
“Today, we’re in Kano with students from BUK and other tertiary institutions across Kano State just to create awareness about the dangers of drug abuse and to help young people understand that drugs doesn’t help but kills, with them being part of the fight.
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“Like I said, it started in 2019 and it was informed by a research that was done by the UNODC which shows the high prevalence of substance abuse amongst young people in Nigeria.
“There were some states that stood out as high areas and Kano state is one of them, that’s what actually informed this campaign in Kano State,” he noted.
In his remarks, the representative of the Kano State NDLEA Command, Dahiru Yahaya, commended MTN for partnering with the NDLEA to ensure a drug free society.
He said the campaign formed part of the NDLEA’s activities to celebrate this year’s international day against drug abuse and trafficking with the theme: ‘The evidence is clear, invest in prevention,” noting that investing in it can stop the chain of production, supply and use.
He also lamented that the issue of banditry, kidnapping and mass failure in academic examinations are all effects of drugs and the damage it is causing the society.
