Fred Ezeh, Abuja 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised the alarm over significant increase in drug abuse in Nigeria, especially among the youths.

The agency said it could not confirm if the general election was responsible for the high demand of hard drugs but said it presents huge challenge to public health and national security.

NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, raised the alarm at the formal launch of the 2018 International Narcotics Control Boards (INCB), in Abuja, yesterday.

She said a drug use survey conducted, last year, pointed at considerable level of drug abuse in Nigeria.

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“The past year prevalence of drug use was estimated at  14. 3 million (14.4 percent) when compared to the 2016 global annual prevalence of 5.6 percent amongst adult population. It clearly indicates real and serious threat to public health,” she said.Also,

Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah, who spoke at the event, revealed that his agency recently uncovered three new metaphitamin clandestine laboratories at different locations in Nigeria, thus making 16 laboratories uncovered so far.

The laboratories, according him, are as simple as a kitchen and are used in manufacturing hard drugs and other substances that are worst than cocaine, heroin and other hard substances. Abdallah, who spoke through Femi Oloruntogba, was unhappy that Nigeria still lives in denial that it is a transit country; as far as drug abuse is concerned.

“We no longer a transit country but a consuming nation. The Nigerian challenge has been further compounded by the discovery of about 16 metaphitamin clandestine laboratories.

“That has actually worsened the drug situation in Nigeria and nobody can deny it. However, it is call for frontline agencies like NDLEA and NAFDAC to change their approach to the issue of drug abuse in Nigeria,” he added.