The meeting of the North East Secretaries to the State Government Forum has ended in Gombe with a far reaching resolutions aimed at minimizing the inflow of drugs to the region and its effect thereof.
The resolutions which comes in the form of a communique was presented to the newsmen by the Chairman of the Forum and Secretary to the Gombe State Government Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi.
Below is the full text of the communique.
Preamble
The meeting held in order to comply with the directives of the North East Governor’s forum at their meeting held in Damaturu held on 14th December, 2022.
This stakeholder meeting is to enable a robust region-wide response to the menace of Drugs and Narcotics which is very prevalent among our young people and is at the heart of threatening the future of the region due to their role in aiding Insurgency, banditry, violence and other social vices.
Context
(i) The Statistics is glaring for Nigeria and the region. A United Nations office of Drugs and Narcotics (UNODN) Nigeria Drug Use survey in 2018 revealed that;
One in 4 drug Users is a woman; One in 7 persons aged 15-64 years had used drug other than tobacco and alcohol.
Highest levels of drug use is among those aged 25-39years.
1 in 5 persons who had used drugs is suffering from drug use disorder.
In the north, the North East has the highest prevalence rate of 13.6% ( over 3 million people) which is disturbing and we have to note that this is in 2018! It is not in doubt that the figure may have increased significantly.
Proceedings.
The meeting comprised heads of Security Agencies from all the States of the region comprising the following heads of commands:
DSS
Police
NSCDC
NDLEA
Security Advisers to Governors and Commissioners
Deliberations were undertaken with a view to finding lasting and holistic solution to this clear issue which portends a clear and present danger to the survival and development of our dear region.
Key Issues Discussed
The meeting examined the issues along the following themes:
The Adequacy of our policies to deal with the issue of Narcotics and drugs abuse.
How the inflow of narcotics and drugs into the North-East can be disrupted;
The roles our traditional institutions are expected to play.
Strengthening the investigative and prosecutorial abilities of law enforcement.
Capacity of our judicial system to deal with the issue.
Issues of rehabilitation and empowerment.
Recommendations were made for the consideration of the Governors at their next meeting in March in Gombe.
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