By Efe Onodjae 

No fewer than 15,512 staff and students  of some schools in Lagos State have undergone training  on evidence-based  substance use prevention , with a view to  assisting them  identify and provide substance use prevention interventions in schools and at home.

The training which  was a  project on drug use and prevention was undertaken by the Global Initiative on Substance Abuse,GISA/ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,UNODC, in 15 selected schools in the state. 

Presenting the report of the one-year intensive training   to the Commissioner for Education,  Mrs Folashade Adefisayo,  , in Alausa, Ikeja,  President of GISA, Dr Martins Agwogie,  disclosed that out of the 15  selected schools,   12 were public schools and the rest  private schools.

Giving a breakdown of the 15,512 trainees, he said, 15,440 were students while 72 were staff and officials of the Ministries of Education, Health and  Youth and Social Development.

He explained that GISA’s choice to execute the project in Lagos State was necessitated by a survey which showed that the state had the highest number of persons using drugs, between ages 15 and 64.According to him, “ Our proposal was very strong indicating we want to execute the project in Lagos state as part of our support to drug use prevention in Lagos state.  

“Also, considering from the national use drug survey, Lagos has the highest number of  persons who use drugs  between 15 and 64 years , we  decided to focus on Lagos state to catch them young  and ensure  that the young ones don’t start using drugs”.

 Giving details  of GISA’s  journey to winning the UNODC’s grant, Agwogie said,  “We started based on evidence that teachers have significant role as long as drug abuse prevention is concerned  and based on that scientific evidence, we felt there is a need to build the capacity of teachers in the school setting, to be able to address substance use in schools.

 “An opportunity came through a grant proposal from the UNODC . It was not an easy process because many organisations   applied too  but  GISA was awarded the grant”

Responding, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Adefisayo , described the project  as one of the most  remarkable  the ministry has ever had.

She therefore  promised   to work with the GISA to scale it up, as the school session is set to resume.

Expressing  her expectation from the initiative, she said  “I expect that drug abuse will go down, though it  is not something to measure always because  not everyone reacts to it  the same way. I applaud the scheme for what  it has  done by providing skills of decision making, whereby students will  be able to make the right decision when it comes to use of drugs”.

Speaking earlier, Project Manager for GISA, Dr. Isaac Olatunde, explained that    “the first action we took was to train the teachers because we had to build  capacity first by impacting them with requisite knowledge and awareness.  “Thereafter, they went back to their schools to train some selected students we call ‘Peer Educators ‘and the peer educators subsequently started training other students which were more effective because students like to listen to themselves “. 

“We have also recorded long term and short-term progress since we started, we have students who came out to confess their vulnerability.  We also had  students who used drama to pass the message on drug abuse. They form what is called a ‘drug-free clause”, Olatunde stated.