The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has called on heads of tertiary institutions in Kano State to strengthen collaboration with the agency to curb drug abuse and safeguard students’ wellbeing.
The call was made on Wednesday by the NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, at a two-day workshop for leaders of tertiary institutions on the implementation of drug use prevention policies.
Marwa was represented at the event by the ACGN Zone 5, Mr. Mohamed Ajiya.
Marwa said the wellbeing of young people depended on collective efforts to address the growing challenge of substance abuse in educational institutions. He described tertiary institutions as “critical platforms for shaping values, aspirations and the future of the nation’s youths.”
He noted that campuses had increasingly become targets for illicit drug circulation and experimentation, a trend that posed “serious threats to academic performance, public safety, health and social order within campuses.”
“As leaders and custodians of these learning environments, it is imperative to adopt proactive and evidence-based strategies to maintain drug-free campuses,” Marwa said.
While acknowledging NDLEA’s intensified enforcement through arrests, seizures and dismantling of drug networks nationwide, Marwa stressed that “enforcement alone could not guarantee sustainable results.”
He added that prevention through education, early detection, intervention, behavioural guidance, rehabilitation, and institutional collaboration remained key to addressing drug abuse.
He urged heads of institutions to establish and strengthen drug-free clubs and counselling units, integrate drug education into orientation and general studies programmes, and enforce institutional drug control policies consistently.
Marwa also encouraged collaboration with NDLEA state commands for advocacy, training, peer education programmes, voluntary drug testing, and staff capacity building.
Highlighting the NDLEA Drug Integrity Test as an evidence-based initiative, Marwa said it aimed at early identification of drug users to provide timely counselling and rehabilitation.
“Students who test positive should not be treated as criminals but as individuals requiring support and rehabilitation,” he said. He added that the adoption of the test would strengthen campus security and contribute to national efforts in combating youth drug abuse.
In his remarks, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Prof. Aliyu Mu’azu, described the initiative as timely, considering the rising involvement of youths in substance abuse.
“Raising responsible youths is essential to building a responsible nation,” Mu’azu said. He added that extending the initiative to institutions across the country would promote discipline and moral development among students.
He pledged BUK’s commitment to collaborating with NDLEA to sustain and expand the programme.
NAN
