Int’l Youth Day: Global Peace Launches Anti-drug Abuse Campaign in Kaduna
By: Austine Agbo Emmanuel, Kaduna
http://www.newsportng.com.ng NGO, Global Peace Foundation Nigeria, (GPFN) has launched a campaign against drug and substance abuse in Kaduna state.
The program, held in Hayin Banki Community, Kaduna North Local Government Area, is part of the NGO’s commitment to mark the 2024 International Youth Day, “From Click to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development.”
Speaking in Kaduna on Tuesday on the program theme, ”No to Drug,” the Country Director, GPFN Rev. Dr. John Joseph Hayab noted that the meeting seek collaborative and concerted efforts of critical stakeholders in the society to curtail the menace of drug and substance abuse in Hayin Banki community.
Hayab stressed that the program, organized by the Hayin Banki Peace and Reconciliation Committee in partnership with GPFN and Health Justice Development and Peace (HJDP) was an initiative to combat the increasing menace of substance abuse, capable of destroying the society and her people.
He added that critical stakeholders from Kaduna state Peace Commission, (KSPC) National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) as well as Community and Religious Leaders, were equally engaged to provide counseling and expertise advice to the participants who would inturn step down the messages to other members of the community.
“Our desire every day is to see that the best and successful people come out of the community which is a mini Nigeria with people of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds living peacefully. For that to happen, certain things like drugs and substance abuse must be handled, which is why the organization agreed with the Hayin Banki Peace and Reconciliation to hold such an engagement at such a time, like this.
“It is a disheartening concern that the menace of drugs and substance abuse in the community is not limited to young boys alone but also girls and married women. It is on this note that I called for self-soul searching and reflection as well as concerted efforts by all and sundry to salvage the situation which is capable of destroying our society.
“I can assured the youths and everyone here that the gathering is not that of condemnation but as members of one human family under God trying to help each other. Therefore, I call on the youths here present to make use the most of the opportunity accorded them by the program for a positive change.” Hayab said.
Earlier in his remarks, the Provincial Secretary, Church and Society Kaduna State, Rev. Fr. Sixtus Onuh Ladi lamented that the society has allowed things created by human hands to destroy them thereby throwing the future into doubt.
Onuh Ladi avered that the convergence is a forum for a heart to heart conversation on the way forward, considering the fact that drugs and substance abuse have destroyed and still destroying a lot of destinies in contemporary society.
He called on youths to shun drug, substance abuse and other form of social vices capable of destroying the society and their God’s given talent.