The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade, has promised to support and collaborate with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to fight against substance abuse in the country.
The revered traditional ruler gave the assurance when he led two other royal fathers: Oloro of Oro, Oba Joel Olaniyan Olatoye and Olusin of Ijara Isin, Oba Ademola Julius Ajibola, on a courtesy visit to Marwa at the Agency’s national headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
The monarch assured the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brig Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) of support and collaboration in his renewed mandate to curb the scourge of substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking
According to him, “To be kind with you, we are proud of you. Your being in this position at the moment is not just by chance, it’s because of your devotion, your commitment. You have this amiable character. That’s why you are able to govern Borno and Lagos State, and you have always been a performer. Another thing which I can’t forget about you is the legacy of Keke Marwa that you brought to Nigeria.”
Responding directly to the charge by the NDLEA boss for traditional rulers to support ongoing efforts against drug abuse in the country, the Alaafin assured of his readiness to mobilise his colleagues to work with the Agency.
“I’ve heard your message and the same thing with some of my colleagues here and some of my other traditional rulers, we are ready to collaborate with you. I have to tell you, we are at the grassroots, we are close to the community people. We know a lot about what’s going on. So, I’m using this opportunity to tell you that we are ready. We are more than ready to work with you and to give you all the necessary support to make sure that you are successful in this job. We can tell you that anytime you are in need of us, we will always be there for you”, Oba Owoade stated.
In his welcome remark, Marwa congratulated the Alaafin for ascending the throne of his forefathers. He charged him and other traditional rulers across the country to leverage on their influence at the local level to work with NDLEA to stamp out substance abuse in communities.
In his words, “The drug scourge in Nigeria is at an unacceptable limit and from the drug use survey report of 2018, we find that close to 15 million Nigerians aged 15 to 64 use drugs. It’s a big problem and we have been mandated by President Tinubu, to stand up, fight the drug scourge, arrest those responsible, prosecute them and seize their assets, the traffickers. And on this assignment, we would like to call on the traditional institutions because it’s a very, very important institution.
“Nigerians respect the traditional institutions. Whoever you are in Nigeria, you still come from somewhere. And when you go back to that place, you pay homage to whoever is the leader of the community. And so when the traditional leader speaks, it carries weight. And equally we plead for traditional leaders to also engage the religious leaders in charge of churches and mosques in their domains, they should do serious advocacy against the use of drugs. The NDLEA is always prepared to work with the traditional institution.”
He said the Agency will also appreciate getting information about drug dealers in local communities from traditional rulers because of the risk they pose to many youths and their families.
“We really appreciate this collaboration and I know for a fact that if we are able to control drug use, even the criminalities will come down because all the people that are kidnappers and the insurgents, terrorists, bandits everywhere, they use drugs first to charge themselves up, to make them high,” he added.
He expressed appreciation to Alaafin for the visit and wished him long successful reign in good health, peace, development and prosperity in the entire Oyo Kingdom.
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