According to Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the goal of requiring drug integrity tests for youth corps members, prospective couples, and others is not to punish substance abuse but rather to deter substance abuse and offer early treatment to those who test positive before their condition worsens and leads to drug dependence and other health issues.
Marwa clarified the matter during a meeting with Brig. Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps, who accompanied senior NYSC officials on a courtesy visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
The NYSC scheme is a national treasure and a true tool of national unity, according to Marwa, who also congratulated the NYSC head on his recent appointment.
“The drug scourge has continued to devastate our kids, families, communities, everywhere, there is no place in the country where you do not have a drug abuse problem,” the head of the NDLEA said. Among Nigerians aged 15 to 64, one in seven use drugs. You mentioned our efforts to restrict access and availability of these drugs, but we also need to work with all parties involved, including NYSC, to guarantee a significant decrease in the demand for drugs by our young people. One of our strategies to address this is the implementation of our drug integrity test, which we are urging NYSC to adopt for corps members. “As I said, while we do the drug supply reduction, we also do drug demand reduction through preventive measures, as well as counseling and rehabilitation. Now, these are important areas for further collaboration. You have introduced in the camps, the war against drug abuse clubs, which is fantastic. One other important area of collaboration is the question of drug integrity tests for youth corps members. It’s a major drug demand reduction effort. The same way we said, if you are getting married, both the bride and the groom, should bring a drug free certificate. This is because it is always better to detect drug use early before it gets to addiction which eventually could get to psychiatric problems and it becomes a danger to the user and the society.”
The posting of a sizable number of corps members who studied psychology, nursing, psychiatry, and guidance and counseling to NDLEA Counseling and Treatment Centers nationwide as their primary assignment during their one-year national service is another area of collaboration, he said. He claimed that this would allow the corps members to gain expertise in psychosocial services and rehabilitation.
While promising to research the NDLEA proposal for potential cooperation, the NYSC DG responded that the drug integrity test was an excellent idea. He promised that the plan would create a general guideline to assign as many corps members who meet the necessary qualifications to NDLEA Commands that have counseling and treatment centers located throughout the nation.
In addition to praising Marwa for the enormous progress NDLEA has made under his direction, he mentioned the Agency’s current partnership with the NYSC and stated that the purpose of his visit was to look for additional ways to strengthen and expand that partnership.
