The Minister of State for Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, has initiated a partnership talk between the United Nation’s Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the effort to surmount the problem of drug abuse among youths.
In a meeting which was held at the NYSC headquarters in Abuja at the instance of the minister as a follow-up to an earlier discussion between him and the Country Representative of UNODC, Mr Oliver Stolp, Olawande reiterated the need to address the menace of drug abuse and crime which is mostly perpetrated by young people.
Maryam Umar Yusuf, the Head of Press and Public Relations Unit in the ministry, said in a press release that the minister, who was received by the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier General Yusha’u Dogara Ahmed, expressed optimism that the collaboration will yield fruitful results.
He said, “I am hopeful that the proposed partnership will explore the prospect of deploying corp members as ready volunteers in the battle to rid Nigerian youth of drugs and substance abuse.”
In his contribution, Mr Stolp explained that his office has some ongoing projects such as Unplugged, Line Up Live Up and Drug Education for School Children, which are aimed at reducing the prevalence of drug abuse in Nigeria.
He therefore called on the NYSC management to accept the request for partnership with the UNODC.
In his remarks, Brigadier General Ahmed gave the assurance that the NYSC, which has an existing partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), would be willing to explore every partnership option to ensure that the menace of drug abuse is curbed among the youth.
The two organisations agreed to set up a joint team to work out the details of the partnership.
