Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dakuku Peterside, on Thursday said it was ready to work with the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse, assuring that the agency will take far reaching and concrete steps to strengthen the President’s initiative.
The NIMASA DG, said this in Warri during a Maritime Sector sensitization campaign on the impact of drug abuse in workplaces.
Dakuku who was represented by the NIMASA Deputy Director Central Zone, Femowei Abel, said the focus of the sensitization campaign was to improve awareness and promote preventive, corrective and mitigating actions that will help to stop drug misuse, particularly among seafearers and dockworkers.
He said, “I am also happy that all of you, who are major stakeholders in the Maritime sector have been able to join us today in making this seminar possible because the seriousness the President has given to this issue is one that we must all extend to everyone that is affected or afflicted by the menace of drug misuse.
“Sometime ago, the Presidential Advisory Committee on Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) met with stakeholders in the Maritime sector and after calling the attention of stakeholders to the issues of drug misuse and the important role the sector has to play in stemming the dangers and diverse consequences of the problem on our nation, the management of NIMASA decided that the agency will take far reaching and concrete steps to strengthen the President’s initiative.”
While saying that the awareness campaign may also extend to the Nigerian public, Dakuku said it was important to make the Maritime sector to be aware of the dangers of drug abuse since the sector can be a corridor for the influx of huge amount of such drugs.
He said NIMASA being the leading safety administrator in the Maritime sector, considered substance abuse as a serious occupational health concern because of the impact of well-being and work.
“On the impact of well-being, the country cannot afford the hazards that drug misuse can expose the health of Nigeria to, especially seafarers and dockworkers who are assets to the nation and their families.
On the impact of work, drug misuse is a great danger to productivity because it can increase absenteeism, accident at work and can also lead to security breaches as well as increased crime and criminality,” Dakuku said.
“Serious consequences on the well-being of Maritime workers and maritime work such as those highlighted above in a sector that is one of the country’s high revenue earner is a danger that the President in his wisdom and administrative experience saw well ahead of others.
“We must therefore commend and support his effort by enjoining everyone to do everything they can to prevent the misuse of drugs such as alcohol, some prescription drug that are addictive, fighting this menace is a health and economic imperative,Dakuku added.
Falana Folasade, while presenting her paper, talked about the negative effect of drug abuse in work places, noting drug abuse leads to Stealing, thuggery, criminal activities, crashes and accidents, family disintegration, destitution among others.
She said that in order to reduce drug abuse in the country the government must ensure that there is a significant reduction in drug supply and demand.
The occasion also witnessed the official commissioning of the Warri Health and Rescue Base Clinic.
The NIMASA Head of Health and Rescue Base Clinics, Dr Anselm Nwaze, who spoke to BusinessDay on the sideline said the clinic will handle the health needs of all NIMASA staff living in Warri and it’s environs.
“The Search and Rescue Clinic is basically born out of NIMASA’s mandate to implement Maritime health services. Maritime health services includes making sure that the level of fitness of any seafarer that wants to work on any vessel, is in line with global standards,” Nwaeze said.
Francis Sadhere, Warri
Francis Sadhere, Warri
