By Gabriel Ewepu

AS Federal Government intensifies effort to curb drug abuse in its renewed effort to fight drug barons and peddlers, an agricultural firm, SWEER Global Farms, Friday, disclosed moves to partner youth and women organizations on the fight against drug abuse in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

This made known by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SWEER Global Farms, Dr Thaddaeus Thompson, while expressing concern over activities of drug induced youths who have taken to violence affecting the peace, development and attraction of foreign investors.

Thaddaeus said there is need to tackle the menace from the grassroots which is at the community level since it is where most of the issue of drug abuse takes place, because the people at that level are the victims of its consequences.

He expressed optimism that when youth and women organizations are carried along in the fight against drug abuse the trend will drastically reduce.

He said: “We at SWEER Global Farms are particularly concerned with the huge number of youths involved in drugs either by consuming, trafficking and producing it in Nigeria.

“We are at the vanguard of promoting youth capacity building and positive competitiveness that is healthy for national development and diversifying the economy.

“We are challenged currently with the issue of drug abuse and trafficking which are prevalent amongst young Nigerians, hence the increase in violence of all kinds. 

“This is a terrible setback in nation building because the young people are the pillars of the nation’s future but if they are big-time into drug addiction it is very for worrisome for a right thinking Nigerian and corporate organization.

“We are strongly on it as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, CRS, to ensure we partner with youth and women organizations in all communities in the entire 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria, and we are going to form synergy with them to organise various meetings and trainings to ensure the curve is flattened.

“We are already in talks with some of these youth organizations in the Niger Delta region, and we are providing support already to sensitise young people about the enormous damages caused by drugs in the health and future.”

However, he stressed that the neglect of young people over the years have turned against the entire nation in the form of insurgency, banditry, militancy, violent agitations, ritual killings, kidnapping, armed robbery, extremism, and cyber crimes.

“When leaders at the various levels of governance are only interested in using youths to push down, pull down and undo any perceived enemy in order to have their ambition fulfilled without considering what they are introducing these young ones to the consequences will one day also consume the pay-masters of violence, and that is what we are experiencing in this nation now.

“When youths are giving drugs and arms to unleash terror by some wicked persons it is difficult to retrieve the weapons from them, because some of these youths see it as empowerment in quote to use these guns to eke out a living in the negative way, and now every Nigerian is facing the problem of insecurity, which a large part is traceable to these over ambitious power seekers”, he stated.

However, he (Thompson) expressed hope that if well-meaning Nigerians, corporate organizations, and development partners will rise and take the campaign to the base of youths in their communities it will go a long way to drastically reduce the menace.