By Ibironke Ariyo
Abuja – The National Alliance Against Drug Abuse (NAADA) has lauded the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) over the compulsory drug test for its personnel across all cadres.
The President of the Organisation, Mr Chuks Akamadu, in a statement on Monday in Abuja commended the NIS test as a welcomed development.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede had ordered that all officers and men of the service to undergo drug test.
NAN also reports that one of the conditions for those who fail the test was that they would no longer be permitted to bear arms.
They would further be subjected to a rehabilitation process before full re-absorption into NIS.
According to Akamadu, for us at NAADA, this is a welcome development and a commendable initiative that strengthens our argument that the menace of drug abuse has become a worsening national emergency.
“This requires individual institutions of state as well as non-state actors to join the fight against drug abuse.
“While the nation and the anti-drug abuse global community await the release of the Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa-led Presidential Advisory Committee on Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) recently submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, NAADA wishes to reiterate that the war against the hydra-headed monster called ‘drug abuse’.
”Given the horrific dimension it has taken, should no longer be left in the hands of agencies of government statutorily charged with enforcement such as NDLEA, NAFDAC or Police force,“ he said.
He urged other stakeholders to wake up and invited them to join the struggle “for this is the only way we can rescue the future,” he said.
