Commissioner for Justice in Borno state, Hon. Kaka Shehu Lawan on Wednesday decried the use of illicit drugs by displaced persons in the state, saying that government may declare a state of emergency to curb the menace of drug abuse across the 27 local government council with particular focus on some liberated communities in the state.
The Commissioner, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri, observed that the use and abuse of illicit drugs among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state was becoming alarming and need urgent action if the future of the youths was to be safeguarded.
“I recall that some of offices of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were attacked in Gamboru Ngala, Banki, Baga and here in Maiduguri before it was taken over by Boko Haram insurgency.
“But in spite of these challenges, the NDLEA Borno Command was able to recover more than 20 tonnes of assorted illicit drugs.”
“It is against this backdrop that the government has deemed it fit to support the agency in its effort to wipe out the menace of drug abuse by setting up a Drug Control Committee,” he said.
According to the Commissioner, so far, government has mapped out an aggressive sensitization on drug abuse in almost all the IDP camps to check the activities of some IDPs who are found to be chronic addicts of illicit drugs.
“Our fear is that we do not want these IDPs to get back to their liberated homes and continue to constitute nuisances. We have had enough of Boko Haram and enough of our youth engaging in drug abuse. We do not want to go to the camps to start effecting arrests now because of the condition they have found themselves,” the Commissioner added.
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