From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has warned secondary school students to shun drug abuse, cultism and other vices as such practices will negatively impact their future and the development of the region.
Speaking at 2021 International Youth Day with the theme ‘drugs, cultism and social vices amongst youths’ held in Calabar, the Interim Administrator, NDDC, Effiong Akwa, represented by the Special Adviser on Youths and Sports, Udengs Eradiri, identified these social vices as the tripod of evil threatening to wipe out the youths in the country.
Akwa said the commission, as an interventionist agency, has also identified the youths as critical stakeholders describing them as the future of the country, adding that the commission was working on various skill acquisition programmes, talent hunt and sports fiesta to positively engage the youths.
He disclosed that the commission has put in some efforts to create a conducive environment for the youths and part of its ongoing review of the suspended NDDC scholarship scheme to achieve a more positive impact.
As part of the review, he said only students interested in special courses not offered in Nigerian schools would be sent abroad for studies as against the former policy of just sending students abroad to study courses available in the country.
According to him, NDDC would spend the resources upgrading schools in the country especially in the region to absorb its scholarship students and added that NDDC, under the supervision of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, was being repositioned to achieve its original mandate.
He said:: “We are reviewing the scholarship scheme. We are trying to reach out to schools in the Niger Delta. We want to go into partnership with these schools, upgrade their facilities to international standards.
“These schools will affiliate with NDDC and will run their programmes seamlessly. Only students for special courses not available in Nigerian schools will be sent abroad for studies”.
On the forensic audit reports, he said recommendations contained in the submitted forensic audit report of the commission were undergoing the required process for their implementation, adding “we will soon have the reorganised NDDC.”
Also speaking, the Lead Facilitator and chairman, Young Professionals of Nigeria (YPN), Moses Siloko Siasia, commended NDDC for the programme and shared the experience of how he rose to become a successful entrepreneur, lamenting that drugs were wiping out the generation of young people in the country.
Siasia, who is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Mosilo Group of Companies, said following the death of his father, he hawked various items, planted flowers for people and resisted temptations to engage in illicit drugs while fighting his way to the top.
Advising the youths, he said: “I had a choice to go into drugs, we lost our father and we saw poverty. Drug abuse and cultism are wiping out our generation. Young people are addicted to drugs. Some are joining cults, others have made up their minds to engage in illegal activities. Life is about choices.
“The choice I made many years ago has brought me where I am. I have never tested drugs. I have never joined cultism but today I am being celebrated because I remained focused. Read the stories of the richest men in Nigeria. They were not involved in drugs and cultism. You have a choice before you. If you want to take charge of your future.
“You must start small to grow big. People want to be like me but they don’t know what I have grown through. I have over 480 people working for me and at the end of the month I pay salaries”.
The Commissioner for International Relations, Cross River, Inyang Asibong, also commended NDDC for creating more awareness and mentorship to prevent youths from engaging in social vices.
Hundreds of students from various secondary schools, the police, the Boys Brigade and other stakeholders attended the event.