By Ita Williams
The government of Cross River State and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have advised students across the state to resist peer pressure and abstain from drug abuse.
They warned that substance use poses a serious threat to their education and future.
The advice was given during an educational orientation summit, held at the Government Secondary School, Barracks Road, Calabar, with the themed “From Distractions to Distinction: Empowering Students to Overcome Social Pressure, Drug Temptation, and Career Confusion.”
Speaking, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Students’ Orientation, Comrade Afufu Anthony Ogar-Ogabor, said the awareness campaign was initiated to guide students away from negative influences and towards excellence.
“We are educating students to stay away from social vices, drug abuse, and pressure groups that distract them from their studies.
“The state wants students to achieve excellence and stop taking drugs so that their future would not be destroyed.
Through this orientation, we aim to make them assets, not liabilities, to their families, communities, and the state,” Ogar-Ogabor stated.
Also addressing the gathering, Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics, Eyo Effiong Okon, from the NDLEA’s Drug Demand Reduction Unit, described drug abuse as one of the major distractions facing today’s youth.
He expressed concern over the increasing number of young people experimenting with drugs and its devastating impact on their lives.
“During counselling, we often hear many excuses from youths on why they indulge in drugs. They don’t realise the heavy consequences,” Okon warned.
He further revealed that more than 60 per cent of young people in the state have experimented with drugs, attributing the trend mainly to peer pressure and poor guidance.
The summit ended with renewed commitments from both the state government and the NDLEA to sustain awareness campaigns aimed at curbing drug abuse among students.
PillarToday reports that the event brought together students from several schools in the Southern Senatorial District.
