Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has urged leaders from different walks of life to rededicate themselves in the fight against drug abuse.
He made the call recently at the public destruction of narcotics worth N222 million at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Command in Kano.
Kwankwaso said that youths’ engagement in all forms of violence was due to their easy access to illicit drugs in the community.
‘’All leaders, traditional, religious, political and secular have a duty to protect the greatest asset of any nation which is the youth. We must all rise to our responsibility to ensure adequate punishment is meted out to perpetrators.
‘’It is totally unacceptable a situation where culprits encourage their children to advance in the world through proper training while the helpless ones are made to pay for it’’, he said.
The governor pledged the state government’s support in the provision of rehabilitation centres for addicts and pledged to put institutional frameworks in place to check further abuses.
NDLEA chairman, Ahmadu Giade, said that the agency would continue to apply appropriate sanctions on drug barons and addicts, adding that ‘’Nigeria is already winning the fight internationally’’.
He charged parents to live up to their responsibilities and ‘’know the type of association their children keep, to guide them against negative influences’’.
Over 10,000 kilogrammes of drugs, seized by the NDLEA at state command and the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, were destroyed at the event. NAN