Drug abuse driving Northeast youth into insurgency – Sen Nyako

Drug abuse is one of the major factors pushing a lot of youth into insurgency and other criminalities in the North East, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako (ADC, Adamawa) has said.

Nyako told Daily Trust in Abuja that from the interactions he had with some members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, there were a lot of concerns about the high level of drug abuse by the youth and women in the region.

The senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Special Duties, said as part of the outcome of his committee’s oversight visit to the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiatives (PCNI), the body was ready to come up with programmes aimed at rehabilitating the victims of drug abuse in the region.

He said the development may have escalated the insurgency that the region has been suffering from for several years now.

“A few of them have confided in me that ‘look, a lot of times when we engage Boko Haram, or criminal elements in our society, by the time we search them, whether they’re alive or dead, we end up finding drugs in their bodies.’

“So, clearly for them, they feel that what is even motivating this is not the doctrine but drug abuse. It means that we have to do something about it. I discussed this with the PCNI, and they’re ready to come up with a programme on this,” he said.

He also expressed confidence in the efforts of the presidential committee so far, which he said would go a long way in helping victims of the insurgency.