The convener of the Non-Governmental Organization, No to Drugs Initiative (NTDI), Omoruyi Randa Osas, popularly known as Randawest, on Saturday, organized a sensitisation walk to raise awareness, particularly among youths, about the dangers of drug abuse.

Joining him and thousands of other volunteers in the scorching sun on the streets of Ikeja, Lagos, the ‘One Million Man Walk’ took participants from Allen Avenue to Ikeja Underbridge, to educate and sensitise the public, especially the youths and parents, on the dangers of drug abuse, a social vice that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the Nigerian society and beyond. 

According to the musician-turned-social commentator, Majek Fashek’s struggle with drug abuse inspired the establishment of the ‘No to Drugs Initiative.’

“My main inspiration came from an uncle of mine, the legendary Majek Fashek, whose career was derailed by drug abuse which eventually cut his life short. We used to be on the same street back in the days in Edo state, Nigeria.

Highlighting the main objective of the ‘One Million Man Walk’, Randawest explained, “The objective mainly is to sensitise the youths about the terrible effects of drug abuse. Also, we have a burning passion to do this and that’s why we are on it like our existence depends on it.”

The social commentator who was hopeful that the sensitization walk would have a positive impact on the youths, also stated, “Our campaign and our school tours will sensitize the young ones and educate them about the bad effects of drug abuse. When we go on these walks and campaigns, we don’t only educate them about the effect of drug abuse, we also put life in it with our thousands of volunteers and show them enough true life stories, events, and activities to show the biological effect of drug abuse.”

Admitting that the seriousness of drug abuse in society is a well-known fact, he identified the root causes, stating, “One of the many bad influences of drug abuse today is a number of our so-called musicians. In their music videos and on social media, they display smoking hard drugs, which influences youth or kids watching them negatively.

“Nobody says you shouldn’t show off or enjoy life, but these fans and kids are seeing this lifestyle on their phones and television screens. Like we keep telling the musicians, our kids are watching these videos and unfortunately, they think it’s a good thing to do.”

Speaking further, Randawest expressed deep appreciation to private, and governmental organisations and agencies that supported the walk.

“When we started in 2014, we invited NDLEA and ever since, they have always been a part of our campaigns. Also, police commissioners are all aware of the campaign and because we have passion, we don’t let anybody slow us down. If you go to our YouTube page, NTDI, you’ll see all the campaigns that we’ve done. Nobody is going to stop NTDI or the passion that we have to sanitize these youths. Whether we get support or sponsors or not our campaign must hold. whatever they are waiting for handouts, we are here to do the job.

“The Lagos State Commissioner of Police gave us his backing, The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, gave us their word that they were going to be on the ground and they did and we so much appreciate them. I say thanks to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA too, who has been coming to our campaign from time to time. We wholeheartedly appreciate everybody for coming. A this point, we encourage the TV stations the radio stations and the bloggers to support this cause, because it’s a genuine cause. Don’t say it’s not my fight. It’s everybody’s fight.

“Tomorrow it might be your kids that and you may regret it because you didn’t do anything when you were supposed to. If somebody told me Majek Fashek would lose his life to drug abuse I wouldn’t believe it. If campaigns like ours had been in existence, he would have been mindful of getting himself involved in doing hard drugs.”

He concluded by highlighting his plans to sustain the awareness programme beyond the walk. 

“We shall seek sponsors to make it bigger but if we don’t have sponsors, we will use what we have because we can’t stop doing it. It’s our passion. We can’t stop. We will continue to do it as much as our strength can take us. Whether we have sponsors or not, we will make it bigger by taking the campaign to other 35 states in Nigeria.

“NTDI is an organization that campaigns against the bad effects of drug abuse not only in Nigeria but in Africa at large. We want it to be like the gospel in Nigeria because Nigerians are easily influenced”, he stated.