For the third year in a row, BusinessDay has partnered with MTN Nigeria to promote a drug-free society.
This is in line with the MTN Foundation’s annual Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (MTN ASAP). The two organisations are working together to facilitate discussions about preventing drug and substance usage among young people, according to a statement.
In December 2018, a multi-stakeholder intervention MTN ASAP was introduced. It aims at raising youths’ knowledge of substance abuse and addiction while deterring first-time users from taking the first step towards potential addiction.
MTN ASAP accomplishes this by hosting several events honoring the annual World Drug Day, which takes place on June 26. World Drug Day is an international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
This year’s campaign, themed ‘It’s Everyone’s Fight,” is in collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and United Nations Office for Crime and Drugs (UNODC). It involves a wider range of events, which includes a secondary school quiz contest, a walk for advocacy in Lagos, and training of volunteers and schoolteachers (conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education).
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Through the training for teachers in 30 schools and selected volunteers this year, MTN ASAP will better educate and equip more people to provide counselling support to substance users and their families, the statement said.
In order to leverage the ability of social media to interact with youths, MTN ASAP will also organise Twitter Spaces to encourage advocacy over the month of June.
The first stage of the MTN ASAP virtual quiz competition in collaboration with NDLEA for schools in Abuja, Delta, Gombe, Imo, Kano, Kwara, and Lagos started three years ago, and a winner finally emerged on June 14.
The events would be rounded up with a national conference in Abuja, Nigeria, on June 27, 2022.
Other organisations that have partnered with MTN ASAP for this event are Nigerian Entertainment Today, NDLEA, and UNODC.
