Poised to purge Lagos State and its environs of drug abuse and misuse, which is commonplace among youths and students, members of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs) Lagos State Chapter, have recently reached out to students of six secondary schools, in the Agege Local Government Area of the state, with the gospel against drug abuse, indecent behaviour and cybercrime.
The female druggists used the opportunity of their Annual Schools Moral Campaign, to enlighten the youngsters on the dangers of drug abuse, bad companionship and uncontrolled emotions, stating that all these vices can mar their career if they are not guarded against.
One of the guest speakers, Pharm. (Dr) Titilayo Onedo, who addressed the students on career talk and emotional intelligence, reeled out the portrait of a pharmacist and the requirements to become one. She also mentioned the benefits of being a pharmacist to the young minds, as a means of motivating them to consider studying Pharmacy as a course in the university. She however gave them a caveat to the course, stating that anyone that will study Pharmacy must be a lover of science.
The hospital pharmacist also emphasised the importance of emotional intelligence to the youths, urged them to always do daily self-audit, which will enable them to check their temper, empathise with and tolerate other youths from time to time.
Speaking earlier, the Chairperson, Lagos ALPs, Pharm.(Dr) Afusat Adesina, explained the mission of the group to the students, saying they were there to educate the students on dangers of immoral lifestyles and why they must abstain from it.
She said: “As an association, we initiated this outreach with the goal of correcting social vices among youths, such as drug abuse, Yahoo Yahoo, and others, which are commonplace in our society today. By telling them the dangers of these evil acts, and why they need to invest their time in more rewarding activities that will create a great future for them; it is our believe that the seeds we are sowing in these young ones today will germinate tomorrow, and make them great leaders and professionals.
“Also, the programme aims to enlighten students about pharmacists, Pharmacy, and how to become a pharmacist”.
In an exclusive interview with the Chairman, Organising Committee of the outreach, Pharm. (Mrs) Yewande Olorunsola, further revealed the purpose of the outreach, which she said was to impact the youths, through proper mentoring and adequate enlightenment on moral behaviours and disciplined lifestyles.
Our motto, she said is excellence and service, and to achieve this, she explained they must touch the youths directly from their youthful age.”
“Our goal is to mentor these children right from their youthful age, because some of them don’t know about a course called Pharmacy, but they know doctors, nurses and others. So that is why we have come to mentor them right from school, to enlighten them about the subjects they need to seat for to study Pharmacy.
“We also taught them about emotional intelligence, substance abuse and misuse, moral instruction, personal hygiene, and good use of social media”, she disclosed.
Other speakers at the programme were Pharm.(Dr) Ugochinyere Ogudu and Pharm. (Dr) Queensly Ogbeide, who spoke on moral instruction & personal hygiene and substance abuse & misuse e respectively.
Appreciating the leadership of the association, the representative of the Education District, Dr Olubukola Rosanwo, described the outreach as a very apt one, especially nowadays with the geometric progression of social vices in secondary schools and higher institutions of learning. She further lauded the sacrifice of all members of the association with their kind gestures in donating sanitation materials to the schools.
In attendance at the event were students from Sango Senior Secondary School; Sango Junior Secondary School, Inclusive; Yewa College; Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School; Unity Junior College and District Junior College.
The highpoint of the programme was the presentation of sanitation materials which include: waste baskets, mopping sticks, buckets, gallons of antiseptic liquid, brooms, and others to each school represented.
 Lagos State Chapter, have recently reached out to students of six secondary schools, in the Agege Local Government Area of the state,){kind=link}