Navy Boss Warns Personnel Against Illicit Drugs

Given the recent resurgence of drug abuse in Nigeria, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC), Rear Admiral Obi Ofodile, has warned officers and men of the command to stay off illicit drugs.

Ofodile gave the warning during his address after the 10km quarterly route march from the command headquarters in Apapa, Lagos to Costain roundabout and back to the base.

He said: “We conduct medical test to find out those who are well and who are not. We go on to do route march like this to find out those who are physically fit and mentally alert and those who are not.

“The purpose is for the service to take care of those who are not well, so that they will fit in because certainly you cannot perform your military duties without being physically fit and mentally alert.

“Generally in Nigeria today, if you read the newspapers, there are problems of drug abuse by youths of this country which is not limited to civilians alone but all over the place. So once in a while we alert and warn the personnel to keep clear of drugs that are not prescribed by trained medical doctors.”

While congratulating the personnel for seeing the route march through with no casualty he said no fewer than 1,000 personnel of the Nigerian Navy, trooped out to observe the second quarterly route march, which boosts fitness and mental alertness.

According to him, the route march was the navy’s way of assuring the public of its commitment to its duty of defending the territorial integrity of the country.

The route march, apart from ensuring fitness of the personnel for military duties, was aimed at fostering es-prit de corps and providing an avenue to prevent criminality in the command’s area of responsibility.