NDLEA calls for responsible parenting to check drug abuse, trafficking

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Commander of Narcotics in Lagos state, Mr. Ralph Igwenagu, has called for responsible parenting to combat drug abuse and trafficking among the youths.

Igwenagu made the call in an interview in Lagos on Sunday.

He said that the manner of pursuit of livelihood by some parents was at the expense of attention they need to give their children and wards.

The commander of narcotics said the lapse paved the way for many youths, through peer pressures to get into the use of hard drugs and commit other devastating crimes.

“This lapse also led many youths into exploiting the internet and getting into condemnable sites that they should not have visited,” he said.

He urged parents to henceforth limit the time their children spent on the internet, and said that most people that committed crimes used hard drugs as enhancers.

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“Many rapists committed the act under the influence of hard drugs; the rapists use the drugs as an enabler.

“A rapist must be under some sort of influence, especially when it involves the raping of a minor,” he said.

The commander also said that contrary to the belief in some quarters that war against drug trafficking and abuse was only for NDLEA, it was a fight of all.

“Nigeria needs the collaborative efforts of all critical stakeholders to win the war against drug trafficking and abuse.

“In the war, all parents, churches, mosques, schools, civil society organisations, non-government organisations, traditional rulers and market leaders must collaborate with NDLEA to win,’’ he said.

Igwenagu said the command alone had arrested about 587 drug suspects in the last 8 months with a total of 14,196,800kg of hard drugs seized.