One out of 10 people living in Kaduna abuse drugs, says Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s administration.

Kaduna is a hotbed of violence due to banditry, violent ethnic and religious clashes.

According to Mr El-Rufai’s administration, plans are underway to rehabilitate and establish two new rehabilitation centres in each of the three senatorial zones.

A 2018 report, ‘Drug Use in Nigeria,’ published by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, noted that the prevalence of “any drug use in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 per cent or 14.3 million people aged between 15 and 64 years.”

Joseph Maigari, Director General of Kaduna State Bureau for Substance Abuse, Prevention and Treatment (KADBUSA), disclosed that 10 per cent of Kaduna residents abuse drugs abuse.

He made this known on Thursday during a courtesy visit to the palace of the Agwatyap in Atak-Njei, Zango Kataf local government area.

He said the percentage was sequel to a recent survey conducted by the agency, noting that the survey showed a prevalence rate of 14.4 per cent in Nigeria.

The director general noted that the state government was concerned about the high rate of drug addiction, hence the aggressive sensitisation campaign on drug abuse dangers, especially at the grassroots.

He commended the Atyap chiefdom for the measures it had put in place to curtail the consumption of hard drugs in the area.

Mr Maigari pledged the bureau’s collaboration with the chiefdom through the various committees set up at the district, ward, and village levels in taking the sensitisation to every nook and cranny.

Responding, the Agwatyap III, Dominic Yahaya, said the traditional council had already sounded a note of warning to those selling and consuming illicit drugs in the chiefdom to desist from it or face the full wrath of the law.

He commended the state government for establishing KADBUSA, considering the dangers the menace of drug abuse posed to the society.

(NAN)