The Commissioner for Health and Human Services in Benue, Dr. Joseph Ngbea, has cautioned Nigerians against abusing drugs like paracetamol.
Ngbea stated this on Monday while speaking during the War Against Drug Abuse programme, organised by Eunice Spring of Life Foundation, in partnership with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency in Makurdi.
The commissioner stressed that the abuse of paracetamol could affect the liver negatively.
He urged Nigerians to keep strictly to prescriptions to avoid abuse of drugs and subsequent damage to their body systems.
He further disclosed that the Ministry in partnership with ESLF and NDLEA would put up a proposal to the state government to build rehabilitation centres in all the three Senatorial Districts of the state.
He pledged that the ministry would sustain its partnership with ESLF and NDLEA to ensure that WADA achieved success in the state.
Meanwhile, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue has attributed the rising cases of insecurity in the country to the increase in substance abuse.
Ortom said drug abuse had dealt heavily with society, stressing that all Nigerians must come together to tackle it head-on.
He commended his wife, Dr. Eunice Ortom, for championing the fight against drug abuse in the state and country at large.
Also speaking, Dr. Eunice Ortom advised Nigerians to rub their minds more on how to tackle the menace of drug abuse.
“Drug abuse is a global challenge and people should not allow it to ruin them, steal their joy or happiness.
“For President Muhammadu Buhari to launch WADA, it means that the menace needs to be tackled with all seriousness and determination.
“Almost everyone is affected by drug abuse in one way or the other,” she said.
She encouraged people not to write victims off rather, they should help them because they needed love, care, affection, assistance, advice, prayers, encouragement, and counselling.
The state Commander, NDLEA, Mrs. Esther Musa, lamented that the cultivation of cannabis had taken over the cultivation of yams, cassava, maize, and others in the state.
Musa called on all and sundry to assist the agency to nip the menace in the bud by volunteering information to her.
The Coordinating Programme Officer, ELSF, Miss Karen Yankyaa, said that a survey conducted in 2020 revealed that 14.4m Nigerians used and abused drugs.
