Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa has lamented the effects of drug abuse on Nigerian youths, saying it was destroying their future.
The Governor disclosed this during a stakeholders’ Mega Sensitisation Campaign on Drug Abuse and Prevention in Yenagoa.
Mr Diri restated that his administration was committed to the eradication of the scourge owing its adverse effect on the society.
He urged all hands to be on deck in the fight against drug abuse, saying that the government and relevant agencies alone could not achieve the desired result.
The governor said that the setting up of the Bayelsa Drug Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation Committee was part of government’s efforts to rid the state of drug abuse and its consequences.
The construction of a psychiatric hospital, according to him, would be completed within one year.
He charged youths in the state to shun drug abuse in order to safeguard their future and fulfil their dreams.
Governor Diri said: “Drugs and crime go together. The best approach to stop crime is to stop the youths from the use of illicit drugs. We all have the responsibility to check drug abuse as it is not the duty for only government.
“We will stop at nothing until all parts of Bayelsa are free of drug abuse and its effects.
“We cannot afford to have our youths involved in drug abuse. Some of them are very brilliant. Rather than choosing life, they have chosen the path of death,” he concluded.
