“The Nigerian Youth are a formidable and productive force to be reckoned with, however, drug abuse has begun to take its toll on the productivity of a reasonable percentage of our youth. The Nigerian population is made up of about 70 percent of youths which is about 151 million, reportedly the highest population of youths in the world. Unfortunately, over 10 percent of this youth population takes hard drugs and suffers from substance use disorders. For this country to thrive, the youth who are the bedrock need to be healthy and sane, but substance abuse is leaving no stone unturned as it has continued to batter the mental health of a lot of our youths. We need to secure the future of Nigeria by addressing decisively this pervasive problem of drug abuse which is presently threatening to destroy the future of the Leaders of tomorrow.” These were the words of the National Coordinator, VGADA at the just concluded National Youth Conference which held on the 28th of June, 2024, where he doubled as the Convener. It was a colorful event that saw in attendance the Director of Finance and Accounts, Nigeria Police Force Headquarters, Ambassador Dandela Abdulrahman Kassim, The NDLEA Chairman ably represented by the Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi and other dignitaries. Our major partners on this event were the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), The Nigerian Minister of State for Youth, The NDLEA, SaukiPay, I Choose Life Foundation, Elish prints among others. We had a wide media coverage from Arise, AIT, NTA and News Agency of Nigeria. It was a robust discourse featuring panel discussions, keynote speeches, testimonials and other interesting activities.
