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UNODC and NDLEA partner to sensitize the Nigerian Governors Wives on Drug Use, Treatment, Prevention and Care

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UNODC and NDLEA partner to sensitize the Nigerian Governors Wives on Drug Use, Treatment, Prevention and Care

UNODC and NDLEA partner to sensitize the Nigerian Governors Wives on Drug Use, Treatment, Prevention and Care

By: Our Reporter

In 2019, with the support of the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Nigeria officially launched its first ever comprehensive national survey on drug use and health – Drug Use in Nigeria 2018. 

The survey revealed that Nigeria has over 14.3 million people who use drugs and 1 in 4 of these populations is a woman or girl. Even more alarming is the data that indicates that only 1 in 20 people in treatment for using drugs, is a woman. 

Whilst there is a generally acknowledged dearth of drug treatment services in Nigeria, the gap is even more disproportionate for female drug users who for a myriad reason are unable to access treatment as easily as their male counterparts. This is further buttressed by the findings of the World Drug Report 2022.

It is therefore no surprise that members of the Nigerian Governors Wives Forum are at the forefront of advocating for improved access to drug prevention and treatment services in Nigeria. 

After all, it was on the initiative of the First Lady of Nigeria, Hajia Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, that the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA) was first established in 2018 – recommended a series of targeted interventions for elimination of drug abuse in Nigeria. 

The active advocacy of the First Lady of Kebbi State Nigeria, Dr Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, led to the establishment of a community-based drug treatment center as well as introduction of UNPLUGGED – a school-based drug prevention programme in State-owned Secondary Schools in Kebbi. 

As a great step forward, the Nigeria Governors Wives Forum led by the First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi adopted drug abuse as a flagship project “to address the alarming problem of drug abuse in our communities.”

Encouraged by the active advocacy by the Governors Wives Forum, NDLEA and the UNODC within the context of the EU-funded Project “Response to Drugs and Related Organised Crime in Nigeria” partnered to sensitize the Forum on critical issues related to drug use, prevention, treatment and care.

The 2-day sensitisation event, organized in conjunction with World Drug Day, held on 28 and 29 June 2022, had in attendance, the wife of the Vice President of Nigeria, H.E Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo as Special Guest of Honour as well as the First Ladies of  Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Ekiti, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kwara, Ogun, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe States, and the representatives of all other States. 

Other participants included, the senior management of the NDLEA led by the Chairman/Chief Executive Brig Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd.), the UNODC Country Office Team led by the Country Representative Dr Oliver Stolpe, and representative of the European Union Delegation (EUD) to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Eleni Zerzelidou.

Also Read: Buhari tasks Nigerians abroad on responsible social media…

Speaking during the event, the NDLEA Chairman/Chief Executive, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa urged the Forum to spearhead the establishment of State Drug Control Committees (SDCCs) in their respective States to facilitate the implementation of drug control responses at all levels of government and society.

H.E Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, Wife of the Vice President of Nigeria, remarked that the sensitization exercise will enhance participants’ knowledge and skills in implementing appropriate drug control interventions in health and humanitarian crises, which is also the theme for this year’s World Drug Day. 

Also Read: Buhari tasks Nigerians abroad on responsible social media…

She emphasized that we “all need to contribute our quota to the national drug control efforts.”

The UNODC Country Representative, Oliver Stolpe urged the Governors Wives not to lose sight of the public health crisis caused by drug use, noting that what is being invested right now is nowhere near sufficient to cater for the needs of millions of persons living with a drug use dependency. 

He therefore solicited their support for the implementation of UNPLUGGED across the 27,000 public and private secondary schools in the country as well as providing access to quality drug treatment to the millions of persons, in particular women and girls, living with a drug use disorder by: (i) creating drug treatment facilities in all states, (ii) establishing drop-in centers across all LGAs, and (iii) equipping  primary health care providers with basic drug treatment, counselling and referral skills. 

The EUD representative, Ms. Zerzelidou, noted that the Governors Wives, with their influence, can pave the way for more initiatives on drug demand reduction.

The two-day proceeding exposed Governors Wives to core sensitization modules on drug prevention, treatment and care (DPTC), along with several drug prevention and treatment initiatives being implemented under the “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria”, including  sport based prevention programme – Line up Live Up (LULU), Strengthening the Family Programme(SFP), and UNPLUGGED, the latter being implemented in all 104 unity secondary schools run by the Federal Government, as well as in Bayelsa and Kebbi states. 

The UNPLUGGED programme is also being implemented in selected schools in Oyo, Rivers and Kano States in partnership with the MTN Foundation through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) intervention – the Anti Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP).

At the end of the event, the Forum adopted a communique outlining the actions the First Ladies will take to strengthen drug prevention, treatment and care in their respective states.

UNODC and NDLEA partner to sensitize the Nigerian Governors Wives on Drug Use, Treatment, Prevention and Care

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UNIMAID student Saleem attacks 21-year-old Hauwa for rejecting his love proposal.

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UNIMAID student Saleem attacks 21-year-old Hauwa for rejecting his love proposal.

By: Zagazola Makama

One of the most chilling characteristics of a vile human is the tendency to violate the sanctity of the lives of fellow humans, often for a very trivial reason. They do this with gusto and the irritating arrogance and belief that there will be no recompense for their action. 

This villainous trait is even more evident when such a vile character is ditched by a love interest. In that circumstance, he or she comes out smoking, literally and thoughtlessly so.

He or she would, in the most flagrant breach of the law protecting and guarding the sanctity of the life of a fellow human, inflict severe physical, emotional, or psychological pain on the victim, often with the threat to kill him or her, and, sometimes, actually succeed in carrying out such a devious plan.

While perpetrating violence against his fellow human, the vile character, leaning on the might of influence or affluence of his privileged position (or that of his parents) in society or any such reason that implies that he is above the law, brags that no man whomsoever can punish him or exert any form of recompense for his dastardly act.

This is the case of Saleem Ibrahim, a student of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Maiduguri, who was jilted by his love interest, Hauwa Abatcha Ngala, a student of the College of Nursing Sciences in Maiduguri.

Love by Force

It was alleged that Saleem had, for some time, forced Hauwa to love him. Not quite convinced by his advances, Hauwa was said to have searched her mind for any speck of love she could have for him but couldn’t find any. She reportedly convinced herself, and all along she tried to convince him that she nursed no feelings or emotions for him in the name of love.

Consequently, she reportedly did her best to break free from all his pranks and mischief against her in his effort at creating a speck of love for him in her heart and therefore parted ways with him respectfully.

The more she tried to free herself from his increasingly enmeshing pranks in the name of efforts at persuading her to love him, the more dangerous and threatening his dispositions got towards her.

Hauwa maintained that she has no love for Saleem, and there was no way she could eke out even the minutest degree of it for him in her innocent and exceptionally sincere heart.

Her emotional feelings against him reportedly sharply contrasted and fiercely clashed with his alleged persistent threat of inflicting severe pains on her, even killing her, if she failed to love him.

The Anti-climax
 
He reportedly told her point-blank that she either loved him or suffered the most gruesome consequences. “I can even kill you, and nothing will happen,”  he reportedly warned her.

This situation reportedly plunged Hauwa into severe emotional anguish. She languished under the increasing weight of this anguish up to Monday, February 26, 2024.

On that fateful Monday, around 8:30 p.m., Saleem Ibrahim allegedly violently physically assaulted Hauwa Abatcha Ngala, hitting her hard twice with a club until she fainted, for her refusal to love him. The club had cracked her head to the point of profuse bleeding. 

Instead of making any possible effort to save her life, out of the love he feigned having for her, he reportedly eloped, leaving her to the mercy of her relatives, who saved her life, however God knows. 

Having seen her alive, the relatives reported the incident to the police on the same day. The police took her to the hospital, and she was given emergency help. 

Consequently, that night, the JTF civilian volunteers arrested Saleem Ibrahim and handed him over to the police at the Gomari Division Office. 

However, on Friday, March 1, 2024, which was three days after the incident and his arrest, the police allegedly released Saleem on the intervention of some politicians without taking any action expressive of the law taking its due course on him.

Immediately after Saleem was released by the police, he went on his Facebook messenger to send Hauwa a private message moking her, saying, “I’m not the type that makes empty threats; anything I decide to do, I will do it, and nothing will happen. I swear with Allah, it is only the poor you can mess with and go scot-free, not a person from an influential background like Saleem. It is only the poor who don’t possess worldly things that you can succeed in winning a case with. If you mess up and succeed with others, I swear with Almighty God you will never succeed because we have the money, the security agencies, politicians, and government officials on our side. But you can only boast about telling your brother. I urge you to continue the case and let’s see who has the monopoly of influence, said Saleem. 

The relatives, frustrated by the action of the police, reportedly again lodged another complaint at the Borno State Police Command Headquarters in Maiduguri on Saturday, March 2, 2024, especially as he had allegedly threatened to kill her and nothing would happen because he is the son of influential people, which infuriated them. 

Saleem was consequently re-arrested and kept in police custody for a week, but allegedly released again as the family was told by the police that the Borno State Secretary to the Government, Hon. Bukar Tijjani, had ordered his release and subsequent dismissal of the case.
without any action taken against him for inflicting serious physical and emotional pain on the victim. 

All of a sudden, Hauwa’s relatives reportedly came across Saleem roaming the streets of Maiduguri as free as every other law-abiding citizen, instead of freezing in police custody preparatory to prosecution before a court of law. 

Unrelenting, deeply aggrieved Hauwa”s family reportedly filed a fresh complaint at the Borno State Police Commissioners Office (CP, Yusuf Lawan) on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, demanding justice in the case. 

Consequently, the police again reportedly arrested Saleem Ibrahim. This time, the police invited the victim and took her report. From there, the police compiled a report on the case and forwarded it to the Borno State Ministry of Justice.

However, to this moment, no one has contacted the victim or her family, even after Saleem has allegedly confessed to committing the crime and his threat to kill her.

Is Saleem a superhuman parentage,extended family or cronies, and, therefore, above the law of the land; and Hauwa, a subhuman that a Saleem could clobber her to a fainting state for no just reason and walk the streets of Maiduguri scot-free, even after confessing to committing the crime?

We are watching, says the National Human Rights Commission.

Jummai Mshelia, the Borno Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), condemned the senseless attack on the victim and demanded that the suspect be charged in court to serve as a deterrent to other perpetrators. 

She said, “W at human rights, immediately immediately the incident happened, the commission filed a formal complaint with the Commissioner of Police, who ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect. We commend the police for the quick response.

“We are told that the case has been written to the Ministry of Justice Department of Public Prosecution for their advice. While we await the response of the department, we want to assure the general public that the case will be followed up until justice is served, she said.

Mshelia lamented the unwillingness of parents and relatives of victims of abuse to increase crime in society while the victims continued to live with the stigma and trauma forever.

She advises the public to report such incidents to the National Human Rights Commission or any other security agencies to stamp out crimes in society.

UNIMAID student Saleem attacks 21-year-old Hauwa for rejecting his love proposal.

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NSCDC Smashes Local Gun Producing Group in Abuja

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NSCDC Smashes Local Gun Producing Group in Abuja

By: Michael Mike

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) have smashed the production of local rifles and pistols by some unscrupulous elements in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In a statement on Wednesday, the NSCDC National Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, said that the criminal attempt was foiled through a tip-off and the NSCDC Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation who were under Surveillance and Monitoring ( DII-SM) swung into action and apprehended the suspects.

He said: @Acting on a top off that a group of individuals were manufacturing Semi-automatic Rifles and Pistols at Moshood Abiola National Stadium area in Abuja; the DII-SM acted based on credible intelligence and the seven suspects were caught in the act”.

The names of the Suspects, he gave as: Amos Iyawo (M) aged 29 years, Jonah Mannaseh (M) aged 27years, Ezekiel Nannim (M) 20years, Naifa Pando (F) 26years, Euphemia Peter (M) 26years, Faith Gadang (F) and Philemon Karam (F) 26years.

He noted that: “From the confessional statements volunteered by the suspects, we gathered that Amos Iyawo is the leader of the team and that he recruited others to participate as manufacturers of the Rifles.

“He further intimated to us that none of the Rifles or Pistols have been sold out as the production just commenced”.

He said during interrogations, the suspect confessed that he found the locally made pistol while on operations with the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) at Durumi in Abuja”.

Babawale said the DII-SM recovered five already fabricated Rifles,1 Pisto, 1 unfinished Rifle, 7 empty Cartridges, 2 boots, rods, welding machine, filling machine,2 Searchlight, 3 pliers, Shovel, Cutlass and Axes, Hunters ID card and belt from the suspects and all exhibits with the suspects would be handed over to the Nigerian Police for further investigation and possible prosecution because the Nigerian Police has the prosecutorial mandate in cases of Proliferation of small arms and ammunition, illegal possession of arms and ammunition and unauthorized production of same.

The spokesman said: “Let me at this point intimate to the public that the Security Agencies across the nation are strongly in scientific collaborations to salvage the country from the hands of criminal-minded persons”.

“The NSCDC Commandant General, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi mni, OFR has also given a marching order to all Zonal Commanders, State Commandants and heads of formations on the need for prompt Intelligence Gathering which remains the bedrock of any Security organization”.

“Dr Audi hinted that the eagle eyes of the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad and CG’s Mining Marshall newly commissioned by the Honourable Minister of Interior Dr Tunji Olubunmi-Ojo would be all out to frustrate and combat all acts of Crude oil theft, illegal dealings in Petroleum products, illegal mining, Vandalism of Public Utilities amongst others across the nation at large”

“He also urged the public to continue to have confidence in the Corps and other Security agencies by giving actionable intelligence and credible information that would lead to the arrests of those sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government in actualizing the Renewed Hope agenda”.

NSCDC Smashes Local Gun Producing Group in Abuja

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NSCDC Parades 51 Suspected Illegal Miners, 3 Telecommunications Mast Vandals

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NSCDC Parades 51 Suspected Illegal Miners, 3 Telecommunications Mast Vandals

By: Michael Mike

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested 51 suspected illegal miners and three suspected telecommunication mast vandals in the federal capital territory (FCT).

The NSCDC FCT Commandant, Olusola Odumosu made the disclosure on Monday while briefing journalists.

He said that the three suspected vandals were apprehended by the men of Critical National Assets and infrastructure unit of his command, following a tip-off of the dismantling activity at Giri area by the FCT Command intelligence and undercover operatives

He told the public that before the decommissioning of any mast, an approval of such act must be obtained from the NSCDC being the lead agency in the protection of critical national asset and infrastructure in the country.

Odumosu disclosed that the suspects during interrogation by the command’s Anti-vandal Unit, were unable to show an approval from the Corps.

He said: “Neither do they have any proper means of identification showing who they are and the company they are working for.

“Upon further questioning, they revealed that a a certain business man had already been paid the sum of N4 million ahead for the dismantling which raised suspicion of a premeditated act of vandalism.

“Ongoing investigation is being carried out to determine his level of culpability and ownership claim after which necessary action will be taken.”

The Commandant disclosed that in a similar operation, 51 suspects were arrested in Gwagwalada area of the FCT for engaging in illegal mining activities.

Odumosu explained that the suspects, all male, had been profiled and had no evidence of a registered company they were operating under as well as no exploration and mining licence.

“All acts of illegal mining encroaches on the soil and causes environmental degradation and erosion and that is why most of these areas are no longer useful for agricultural and human activities.”

He said that after thoroughly investigating both cases, the suspects would be charged to court for further disciplinary action that will serve as deterrence to others.

Exhibits recovered from the 54 suspects were dismantled metal mast parts, five pumping machines.

“Un-quantified amount of substance alleged to be gold dust, pumping hoses, ten litres of fuel, shovels, diggers and head- pan.

According to Odumosu, henceforth, we will not relent to arrest any form of sabotage on the economy; the Federal Government is trying so hard to provide infrastructure to make life easy.

“And some miscreants in the name of vandalism and illegal mining are trying to destroy what has been provided.

“People are quick in condemning government but people like these are the ones destroying the efforts of the Federal Government,” the Commandant added.

The Command Head warned vandals and criminals in the FCT to relocate, stressing that, the NSCDC was out for them as there is no hiding place left for them in the territory.

NSCDC Parades 51 Suspected Illegal Miners, 3 Telecommunications Mast Vandals

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