* 16,072 staff, students to benefit from training
* LASG commends the initiative

By Evelyn Usman

The Global Initiative on Substance Abuse, GISA has conducted the second batch of training on Substance Abuse prevention in schools, with a view to equipping school functionaries with the required tools for substance use prevention interventions.

Seventy-two secondary school staff comprising Vice Principals, teachers and counsellors drawn from 18 schools in Lagos State, as well as 16,000 students, were beneficiaries of the evidence-based substance use prevention among students in Nigeria.

This is coming one month after the first batch training which had participants drawn from 12 private secondary schools and six public schools in Lagos state.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the six days training described as the first on substance use prevention in the country, held at Unique Heights School, Magodo estate Phase 1, Isheri area of Lagos, the Director/Head Child Guidance, School Counselling and Special Education, Mrs Olusola Somoye, commended GISA for its prevention initiatives in schools.

Somoye who represented the Commissioner for Education charged participants to be committed to the course of charting a better society and future for all, described the problem of substance abuse as one to be tackled by every responsible Nigerian.

She also reminded them that the training would automatically make them change agents in the desired transformation in schools, Lagos State and Nigeria at large

She said, ” The students you will be imparting belong to communities and the society, this is going to snowball into good results for the state and the nation.

” We are excited that beyond the training of teachers on substance use prevention, mechanisms have been put in place to monitor the application of knowledge and skills in the respective schools. This is highly commendable and worthy of emulation”.

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While appreciating the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, UNODC for its decision to fund the project in Lagos State, she was however quick to reinstate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu -led administration’s avowed commitment to address substance abuse among students.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Founder/Executive Director, GISA, Dr Martin Agwogie, explained that the training was aimed at equipping the school functionaries with the required tools for substance use prevention interventions in the school setting, even as he described it as one of the first and most comprehensive evidence-based substance use prevention training ever organized for secondary school staff in Nigeria.

Four staff from each of the 18 selected schools, made up of two teachers, one counsellor and one Vice Principal, according to him, would be certified as Substance Abuse Prevention Officers, SAPOs at the end of the training and drive prevention activities in their respective schools.

The selection of four staff per school according to him, “is in line with the evidence-based practise of team building for substance use prevention. These four staff, together with selected students who will also receive training as Peer Educators will play the lead role in substance use prevention in their respective schools”.

” Participants will receive training on: the concept and science of substance use prevention; risk factors for substance use among students; why substance use prevention is important in schools; the role of schools in substance use prevention, different interventions for different age groups in the school setting, how to assess the needs and resources of the school system for evidence-based substance use prevention, how to form GISA Prevention Leadership Action Team, GPLAT, techniques for substance use prevention in educational settings, personal and social skills for substance use prevention, classroom management of inappropriate behaviour, school policies and development of positive school climate for substance use prevention, among others.

” At the end of this project, we expect a significant reduction in substance use among students of the selected schools, an increase in students participation in drug policy and review, increased perception of harm of the dangers of substance use in the selected schools, established a sustainable GISA Prevention Leadership Action Team (GPLAT), improved positive school climate and establish a more responsive Parent Teachers Association/Forum towards substance use prevention”.

“It is estimated that a total of 16,000 students will benefit from the project. This is in addition to their parents and members of the community where the schools are located”

Vanguard News Nigeria