Aisha Aliyu Tafida, the Project Coordinator, Parents Against Drug Abuse (PADA) in Nigeria is very experienced in the field. She has this to say:

We don’t have real treatment centres in the community level so the patients are referred to the psychiatry centres after which they are discharged. But are they really rehabilitated or are the underlying problems really treated?

Also the rehabilitation centres we have in the nation are just detox centres which usually leads to relapse because rehabilitation; treatment of the underlying condition is not done.

As regards reintegration, parents and the society must learn to encourage the rehabilitated addicts.

I will not say we would have a drug free society but this will go a long way in improving the situation.

The Former Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Otunba Lanre Ipnimisho has this to contribute:

Unfortunately in Nigeria, we are not doing anything about rehabilitation.

Victims are left in the hands of only God knows.

The NDLEA is responsible for rehabilitation but that is the least department attended to as the agency is more concerned about enforcement.

The question is this, even the countries that have all the resources for enforcement, have they won the battle?

Banning syrups with codeine just aggravates the problem. Cocaine is banned here but it is still available. The price just incrrases and addicts do not mind.

We are pretending about rehabilitation in Nigeria, we really don’t have. There are individuals making efforts but they are being frustrated by the system.

Rather than shutting down such establishments in the name of not being qualified, we should work with them. There has to be a mechanism to take this problem head on.

Now that the reality has dawned on everybody, the system needs to be concerned about the state of mind of youths.

The government should create an emergency and collaborate with NGOs.

If 5% of the budget in combating boko haram was spent on this issue, the Bokoharam crises will reduce as there can’t be Bokoharam without drugs.

No excuse is good enough to take drugs.

Parental care is important to curb this menace. The children you ignore in the house, there are 50 boys waiting for them at the gate to lure them into drugs.

On the topic of reintegration, we need to embrace the rehabilitated persons, not taunt them but trust him or her and try to forget all wrongs.Even if he or she relapses, encourage them.

This is a serious issue and I’m glad we are taking steps to address it as a nation.

We hope this article was helpful. Please drop your comments and do well to share with friends.

Certified establishments in local areas should kindly drop their contacts, somebody will definitely need it.

 

The information is culled from:

NTA News 24 Archive

BBC Archive

TVC News Archive.