Nigeria has been ranked highest in drug use prevalence rate in the world with 14.3% as against 5.3% for the entire global community.
The National Programme Officer of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Folusho Ajayi-Adelekan, made the declaration Tuesday in Abuja at a one-day sensitization workshop on Drug Abuse and Rape.
The event was organised by Christabel’s Initiatives and facilitated by the Senate and House of Representatives joint committee on Narcotic Drugs.
According to her, available statistics show that there are 14.4million drug users in Nigeria and a 14.3% prevalence rate.
This she explained, was higher than the global statistics of 5.3% drug use prevalence rate.
She lamented that Nigeria’s 5 years National Drug Control Master plan was not being well funded.
” The National Drug Control Master Plan Nigeria came up with within the last two years is not being funded adequately and the menace requires actions packed operational strategy that must be well funded.
“Aside from the lack of a well funded operational plan, there are not enough treatment or rehabilitation centres in the country for drug addicts.
“Even in the realm of prevention, enough actions are not being put in place in terms of education, sensitization, and discipline at the home front,” she said.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was represented by the House Leader, Hassan Doguwa, said the time had come to fight the menace right from the home front and in Schools at both the primary and secondary levels.
” Most of the drug addicts in the country lacked the required discipline and decent upbringing at the home front.
” The very reason, curricular at the primary and secondary schools levels, need to be reviewed for the inclusion of subjects against drug abuse and violence against women, particularly, rape.
” On our part as lawmakers, required legislative actions will be taken to repeal some of the obsolete laws and enact new ones for provision of appropriate penalties for offenders of both offences.
” Though capital punishment or death penalty may be considered too harsh for a convicted rapist, any other severe punishment must be put in place to deal with rapists in the land as no punishment can be too much,” he said.
