Funmilayo Ogbuagu, Benin City
A group of OAPs(On Air Presenters) in Edo State yesterday said no fewer than one thousand victims of hard drug abuse are currently in psychiatric centers in Benin City, Edo State over drug-related issues
The group comprising radio station presenters in conjunction with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and Edo youths staged a walk show in Benin City the Edo State capital, where it highlighted the effects of abuse of hard drugs by youths
Speaking during the walk show at the Secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, one of the leaders of the OAPs, Abraham Ogiemwanye said, they came to join the government to fight the menace of hard drug usage in Edo State, saying, it has assumed proportional dimensions.
He begged the police and other law enforcement agencies to help in stemming the tide.
“We just came together to jointhe government to fight the menace of hard drug usage, it has assumed proportional dimensions. We went to the psychiatric center and the result is so alarming. We want to know why this thing is getting out of hand and what the government is doing about it? What we got to know is that even the police know where there are selling those things, but have refused to do something about it.
“The last record we got from the CMD of Uselu Psychiatric Hospital was that over three hundred patients are in Uselu and seven hundred at Urora, those are the ones that are there, not those in the streets or in prisons.”
Responding, the Chairman of NUJ, Edo State Council, Sir Roland Osakue, said the menace is becoming a disturbing trend in the society and asked that government intervene, while he pleaded with youths to avoid the usage of hard drugs.
