‘Establish skills acquisition centres to curb youth restiveness’

The Northern Youth group under the banner of Northern Youth Assembly of Nigeria (NYN) has advocated for the establishment of Skills acquisition centres for the youths in order to address restiveness. National Speaker of the youth Assembly, Ukasha Hamza Rahama who said inadequate skills acquisition centres make the youths indulge in drug’s addiction also called for the establishment of rehabilitation centres for the addicts as part of measures to curb the menace. The Youth Assembly Speaker stated this while launching a campaign against violence and drug abuse among youth in Bauchi State. Rahama explained that the campaign became imperative ‘because some irresponsible politicians’ might drug some youths and use them to cause violence to achieve selfish political ambition. He opined that, although there were agitations for the active participation of youths in politics, they should not allow themselves to be used as political thugs of candidates who will later dump them after election. Rahama assured that the assembly would partner with relevant stake holders in the fight against drug and substance abuse in the society. In his comment, the Medical Director of PAHLYCON Hospital Bauchi Dr Hassan Mohammed Garba who is also the chairman of Guild of Medical Directors of private hospitals in Bauchi State promised to support the assembly to find lasting solution to the menace in the society. In the same vein, the representative of the Bauchi State Commandant of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Muhammed Bawa who attributed proliferation of illegal drugs in the society to unauthorized sale of cold syrups at chemists. He disclosed that the northern part of the country has the highest number of drug abusers in the country. Bawa said, “Some signs of drugs abuse among the youths and children include changes in mode of dress, friends, unnecessary spray of scent in their rooms and sucking Tom-Tom and mints all the time to erase odour of the drugs from their rooms and mouth”. He admonished parents and guardians to be monitoring such strange behaviours among their wards so as to detect incidences of drug abuse within the society. Samuel Luka, Bauchi