35% Sec students engage in hard drugs
35% Sec students engage in hard drugs
By Shola Ojo
A Medical expert and a Child Psychiatrist, with the Federal Neuro-psychiatrist Kaduna, Dr. Folorunsho Nuhu, has said 35% percent of secondary school students do engage in hard drugs in Kaduna, North West and Ibadan in South West of the country while 12 percent of them are active users and children within ages of 9 to 13 are dependent on one drug or the other.
Dr. Nuhu stated this while speaking to newsmen at a one day parental seminar with the theme: “curtailing the scourge of substance abuse,” organized by Nurturing Fitral Foundation in Kaduna On Saturday.
The Medical expert who expressed worry about the prevalence rate of the drug intake among the adolescent, said recent studies carried out shows that it is on a high side.
According to him, “studies carried out within Kaduna and outside Kaduna shows that a lot of our children, adolescent and young adults are into drugs. For example a studies by Ekele in Kaduna metropolis, shows that up to 35percent of secondary students have one time or the other taking one or more of this hard drugs. That is serious.
“In South-West, a lot of studies conducted for instance, the one I was involved in in Ibadan. We got close to 30percent of our school children that has taken either alcohol, indian hemp or cigrate in their life time. And there are upto 12percent who are active users. So it is a menace.
“In my clinic, at child adolescent unit of Federal Neuro-psychiatric, Barnawa, Kaduna, I have seen children as young as 9 years to 13 years that are already dependent on drugs. So it is really terrible and it is real.
“We should not shy away from it and we can not deny the prevalence.
“Parents should be more responsible to their children. They should be more vigilant to look for signs and symptoms of a child who has just started abusing drugs because at that stage it is easier to control and for early identification and treatment.
“The youths has misconception of the drug intake and that’s why they feel taking drugs help them instead it does more harm than good.
“The misconception by the labourers and menial job labourers that when they smoke indian hemp, it gives energy. It is also a misconception, indian hemp does not give any energy, it can only make them a little dis-enhabited and on a long run it will become ill motivated even when they take the alcohol. They still cannot perform again. So they will become no future ambition. So that is the long effect it will have on them,” Dr. Nuhu stated.
Earlier, the founder of Nurturing Fitral Foundation and an anchor person of a programme “Today’s baby” on the popular Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Hajia Amina Muhammad said she was prompted to form the foundation and the seminar to reawakening parents to their responsibilities to their children.
“The message to take home is parent should be more aware of their responsibilities because a child doesn’t necessarily have to go into drugs if all is well at home. Sometimes, it is withdrawal syndrome, lack of love and negligence by the parents that result into this,” Hajia Muhammad said.
Posted from GoBroadsheet