We are pleased to announce that Isaac-Thomas Precious Inibehe of Skyop Schools, Abule-egba, Lagos, has been selected by an independent panel of judges as the 6th position of the Drug Addiction Essay Competition for Nigerian Secondary Schools. 

 

The epidemic of drug addiction in Nigeria has recently come to light. Those who are most vulnerable include young people. Therefore, to get them to think critically about the problems of drug use and abuse and partake in developing solutions to the problem we launched the Drug Addiction Essay Competition in November 2018.  

 

Read Isaac-Thomas Precious Inibehe’s essay to find out more about the entry. 

 

 

Drug abuse refers to the use of certain chemicals to create pleasurable effects on the brain. There are over twenty million drug users in Nigeria. The problem has been increasing at an alarming rate among youths under the age of 30 years. Drug abuse exposes the victims to a high risk of contracting infectious diseases. There are so many consequences and problems with drug abuse.

 

Drug abuse and drug addiction is a very horrible problem that calls for an alarm in Nigeria. Its occurrence among secondary school students has been reported in recent times. Drug abuse in students could occur due to peer pressure. The commonly abused drugs are Indian hemp, Codeine, Tramadol etc. Drug users take in drugs to go high, feel less anxious and relieve themselves of pain. When they take these drugs several times, it leads to addiction.

 

This is one of the major problems confronting my community presently. Young people abuse drugs, which lead to addiction. As a result, they start to suffer from psychological, social, mental and also physical problems. These drugs are usually toxic and dangerous to health. The effect of these drugs makes them not to respond positively to the activities going on in the community. 

 

There is a need for proper awareness or enlightenment on the dangers of this terrible problem. Youths most especially should be properly enlightened on the consequences of taking hard drugs. It is highly imperative for the government to intervene to curb these menace. These could be done through organizing talk, shows, forming clubs in schools and using the media to reach out to people in rural areas.

 

If supported, I would use the positive power of drama, dance and public speaking to create an impact in the minds of young people in my community. These will help in creating an avenue for the victims to freely interact and discuss their challenges which will set the steps towards solving the problem of drug abuse and addiction.

 

An outreach award ceremony was organised to celebrate Isaac-Thomas Precious Inibehe at Skyop Schools in Lagos.

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