Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa has asked that youth corps members undergo drug tests as they report for their mandatory one-year national service at the various orientation camps across the country as part of drug demand reduction efforts of the anti-narcotic agency.

Marwa made the call when he hosted the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Fadah led his management team on a courtesy visit to the NDLEA headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday 8th, 2022.

The NDLEA chief painted a picture of Nigeria’s drug problem with facts and figures from the 2018 national drug survey while calling for collective efforts to change the narrative.

“There is the need for drug tests for our youth corps members as they report at the orientation camps. Once they know there’ll be drug tests at the camps, they will abstain from them. The whole essence is to ensure help gets to those who test positive early. This is part of our War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, initiative,” Marwa stated.

“Nigeria has a drug issue. We’re determined to ensure this is changed but we can’t do it alone, we need organizations like NYSC to reduce and control the demand for drugs. Nigeria has insufficient rehabilitation and counseling centers,”

“We need counseling centers in the primary health care centers at the grassroots, where we don’t have enough manpower to cover and this is where the young men and women of NYSC come in. We can train them in their numbers to serve as counselors at the grassroots level because the majority of drug users only need counseling,” he added.

Speaking earlier, Brig. Gen. Fadah said he came on the visit to appreciate NDLEA for past support of the scheme and also ask for further collaboration as NYSC prepares to open the gates of orientation camps across the country.