National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Niger Command, has called for the support of principals in the fight against substance abuse among secondary school students in the state.
Commander of NDLEA in the state, Musa Bwalin, made the call at a sensitisation programme, organised for secondary school principals in the state on drug abuse, in Minna on Monday.
Bwalin said that the programme was aimed at sensitising the principals on drug abuse so that they could understand the danger inherent in it.
“As school principals, you are the custodians of our children and we, as parents, always cry out that children are going wayward.
“So, as an agency, we deemed it fit to call you here to understand what drug abuse is about. You are always with our children in school, but some of may not know what drug abuse is all about,” he said.
Bwalin said that the agency saw the need to sensitise school principals on drug abuse to enable them to play their roles in ensuring a safer and healthier educational environment.
According to him, secondary school management is critical in both the behavioural and academic development of the youth, hence the need to equip them with the knowledge of substance abuse.
In her goodwill message, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hadiza Mohammed, advised the principals to liaise with the agency’s reactive anti-drugs clubs in schools to curb the menace.
Mohammed, represented by a director in the ministry, Lawal Jibrin, urged the agency to extend the sensitisation to all the secondary school principals across the state.
Also speaking, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Ebenezer and Special Adviser to Gov. Umaru Bago on Crime and Hideous Act, Yusuf Kolo, said the principals had a lot to do, as they spend more time with their students.
They advised them to develop ways of instilling behavioural standards in the minds of the youth.
Papers were presented on ‘Drug abuse, prevention, treatment and control’ and the ‘Role of school in the fight against the menace of drug abuse’.
