By Abbas Bamalli
Kano – The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kano State, has sensitised 70 school principals in 13 Local Government Areas of the state, on the effects of drug abuse.
The Commandant of the agency, Alhaji Hamza Umar said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Kano.
He explained that the sensitisation, which was held in Bichi was aimed at spreading the campaign against drug abuse in schools and among youths in the state.
Umar pointed out that “the exercise was necessary because school is one of the major institutions that make immediate impact on children`s life.
“When we teach the children on such implications at their early age, it will assist in reducing the high rate of drug users in our society.
“It will also reduce criminal activities in the society.”
According to him, the agency will soon extend the sensitisation to traditional rulers, higher institutions, and the Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors in the state.
The NDLEA boss disclosed that the command had arrested 50 under-aged children who were being used by drug traffickers across Kano city.
He said after investigation, the agency discovered that the children were either victims of the crisis in the North East or were brought for the Almajiri school system.
“We have counselled and handed over the children to the State Hisbah Board for further investigation, while some of them were re-united with their parents.
“We have come to realise that these children were engaged in different criminal activities, including ritual“, he said.
Umar said the decision to hand over the children to Hisbah was due to scarcity of accommodation for the children.
He said the state government has, however, agreed to construct a rehabilitation centre for the agency where such children would be accommodated.