By Haruna Gimba
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has called for cooperation among relevant agencies for effective control of drug abuse among Nigerian youths.
The Director General of the agency, Professor Moji Adeyeye, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
She said such cooperation would go a long way towards effectively tackling the different aspects of drug abuse among youths.
“It is important for relevant agencies to work together to effectively tackle the problem of drug abuse among Nigerian youths. There is a little boundary, for instance, between what the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) does and what NAFDAC does, and we work together.
“There are some drugs that can be used licitly and can equally be used illicitly. We are concerned with the licit use of such drugs while the NDLEA is concerned with the illicit use.
“A drug like codeine is an expectorant medically, but when people consume more than the prescribed dosage, it becomes illicit. For
tramadol, its medical usage is at the rate of 50 to 100 milligrams, but the one they bring into the country is about 500 milligrams, which can fry anybody’s brain,” she said.
The NAFDAC boss likened the menace of drug abuse to a war, which could affect generations of people.
She, therefore, called for the cooperation of citizens in the fight against drug abuse.
Prof. Adeyeye said that NAFDAC was also working with authorities in neighbouring countries like Benin Republic and Cameroon to check the
importation of illicit and substandard drugs through their borders into Nigeria.
She also suggested stiffer penalties against people who produced or imported fake and substandard food and drugs.
