Unilorin VC decries rate of drug abuse among youths

Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, on Monday in Ilorin lamented the rising cases of drug abuse among youths in the country.

Abdulkareem made this known at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Dawa Holiday Programme jointly organised by some Muslim organisations known as The Companion, The Criterion and The Dawn for selected Muslim youths from five states of the federation.

He said that as parents and guardians, it was incumbent on them to inculcate in their wards character in upbringing

“Character is the first thing we have to work upon, but unfortunately we have totally neglected it. Now, we are having another menace in the society.

“Our children are on drugs. I can’t even smoke a cigarette talk less of drinking wine or getting intoxicated. But Muslim youths are getting into that now.

“And I believe it is because our mothers and our parents are not working on them hard enough,” he said.

“Character is what eventually makes a human being and attitude is your character.’’

The vice-chancellor appealed to mothers to work harder in the training and upbringing of their children.

Abdulkareem urged Muslim youths to use the Quran as their guide and allow it to reflect in their character.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Bilkisu Oniyangi, described the programme as part of the extra-curricular activities required to stimulate the social wellbeing of the youth.

Oniyangi advised against drug abuse while appealing to the youths who attended the programme to be good ambassadors by relaying the theme and messages of the campaign to other youths on good character.

National Amir of The Dawn, Nurein Balogun, said that the camping programme was designed as a platform to mentor and unite Muslim youths.