Hon. Mojisola Alli Macaulay Advocates the Fight Against the Increasing Wave of Drug Abuse

In line with the Annual Constituency Stakeholders’ Meeting which is the 7th in the series held simultaneously across all the 40 constituencies in the State, the need to address the raging problem of drug abuse have drawn in concern. In a bid to manage and curb the situation the Lagos State Assembly as heralded a theme for this year’s edition, “Increasing Wave of Drug Abuse: A Threat to Nation Building” and it is aimed at sensitizing residents; parents, teachers, students, religious organisations, professional bodies, academia, civil society organisations, community leaders, and individuals on the disturbing trend of drug abuse in the society and the danger it portends for the youth and our collective existence.

The matter had long been a source of grave concern to the Leadership and Members of the House for which the House had exhaustively debated and passed various resolutions to address same such as “Need to Curb the Sales and Consumption of Hazardous Liquid Substances (Sokudaiye) in the State” in 2019, and another, calling on the State Government to “Embark on Anti-Drug Campaign for all Secondary Schools in Lagos State” in 2020.

Speaking on the matter Alli Macaulay lended her voice on how she would be working in line with her constituency to tackle this, “We are putting certain measures in place to tackle this menace and see how we can help the victims of the use of drugs in excessive manner or otherwise. We had all critical stakeholders present at the just concluded town hall meeting and we deliberated well on the issues at hand. So I just want to employ our young people to see themselves as the future leaders and instruments of national developments with them in high numbers among the population. I want them to say no to drug abuse and get engaged in skills acquisition and more.”

This worrying development was recently corroborated by the Chairman of the Nigeria Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd.) stated that Nigeria was not only the highest user of cannabis worldwide but that revelations from kidnapped victims had confirmed the facts that the use of illicit substances were enablers of insecurity currently plaguing the country. He said, “Banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, and other criminal activities all have their root in the use of hard substances. Until we face the menace squarely, the problem of insecurity will continue to remain with us.”

She urges that everyone needs to contribute their own quota to fight this cause and help adjust the lives of every young person to be more promising and productive. Asides her doing this in her constituency it’s also in unison across all the constituencies in Lagos state so as to facilitate and achieve a drug free society.