By: Sr. Teresa Anyabuike
The youth of Sacred Heart Parish, Airport, Abuja spoke in a loud voice against Drug Abuse and Human Trafficking during a seminar given by African Faith and Justice Network, Nigeria at the parish.
About 30 youth were in attendance, some of them shared their experiences about drugs and trafficking. One of the youths said that he was into alcoholism. At a point he was drunk that he couldn’t find his way home and started misbehaving. He said that he was lucky that he got help and could control his intake of alcohol now. Another youth said that one of her friends is into smoking and promised to talk with the friend on the danger of it.
At the end of the seminar a committee was set up to work on their action plan which is to speak to other youths and students in some school. The seminar was a huge success because the youth participated actively and made a pledge to fight against drug abuse and human trafficking.
Sr. Teresa Anyabuike share with the youth the alarming rate at which drug abuse has affected the youth in Nigeria and the world at large. According to National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) about 29.4 million Nigerians aged between 15 and 64 years abuse psychoactive substances and other dangerous drugs. It is even more surprising that some pupils from primary schools have been introduced to drugs such as tramadol, cough syrup, alcohol, marijuana and the likes.
