Drug Abuse: Students must resist peer pressure – NAFDAC

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has advised students of Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Dutse, Abuja to resist any form of peer pressure to abuse drugs.

The Director-General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, gave the advice while inaugurating NAFDAC’s Consumer Safety Club (NCSC) in the school.

The club aims at catching and sensitising the young, and propagating the message to desist from drug abuse among youths.

Represented by Dr Paul Kamai, Deputy Director-in-charge of Narcotics in the FCT, Adeyeye said that the students must be focused to be able to achieve their dreams, and have good reputation in the society.

She called on the students to always take prescribed medication, concentrate more on their studies as well as develop their talents.

“Alcohol is the most widely used drug by adolescents, regardless of ethnicity, gender or race.

“Alcoholism is a chronic illness with an insidious onset which may occur at any age, and adolescent drinking behaviour has been a vital social issue in several countries.

“Alcohol is very common in our community where they are freely sold in sachets and small volume bottles.

“These are very dangerous for adolescents like you, and you must learn to resist the urge to engage in alcohol drinking,” the director-general said.

According to Adeyeye, NCSC is one of the agency’s special public enlightenment strategies targeting youths in the society in its efforts to eradicate fake/substandard regulated products and enthrone quality culture.

The Chief Regulatory Officer, NAFDAC, Mrs Suzie Yunusa, said that the catch them young school programme, and the establishment of NCSC started in 2024.

Yunusa said that NAFDAC had been able to inaugurate NCSC in six FCT schools, and the agency was pleased with the turnout of students and teachers in all the schools.

“We will follow up on the whole of the club we have inaugurated so far, so that the mission and vision of catching them young can be achieved.

“We expect the students to help us propagate the message of staying away from drugs by interacting with their friends, as children understand each other better, when they speak with each other.

“The plan is to inaugurate this club in all the schools in Nigeria. Use and abuse of alcohol has consequences in the body, alcohol can stagnate children’s growth.

“The secondary education is onboard with this programme, there are plans to speak with schools’ authorities to inculcate subjects on drug abuse in the curriculum when the time comes, but we must start fighting it now,” she said.

The Principal of the school, Hajia Fatima Muhammad, commended NAFDAC for the sensitisation on how to use drugs appropriately and shunning illicit drugs.

Muhammad told the students that taking drugs in a wrong way was an abuse, hence, NAFDAC’s presence in the school to give medical advice.

“Too much of drugs can lead people to another phase of life, where you don’t intend to be.

“Drug abuse damages the health and ruins the future without ambition. NAFDAC is here to educate us so that we can educate others, we must shun social vices

“Our young ones of today are the future of tomorrow. Let us always learn what is right for us to have a brighter future,” she said.

Pharmacist Nura Madawaki from the Pharmacovigilance Directorate of NAFDAC, took the students through the topic, “The Role of NCSC in Safeguarding the Health of the Nation.”

Pharmacist Jamila Tambawel of the Narcotics and Control Substance (NCS) Directorate, also lectured the students on “Drug Abuse and Alcohol Consumption in Youths.”

It was reported that the students pledged to propagate the message to other youths, to curb the rate of drug abuse in the society.