The National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has advised higher education institutions to set up rehabilitation centers for students who test positive for hard drugs.
NDLEA Media and Advocacy Director Femi Babafemi gave his advice in an interview with the Nigeria News Agency (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
According to him, this is part of the agency’s efforts to rid higher institutions of illicit drug use.
He said rehabilitation centers would be attached to school hospitals where new students or former students who tested positive for hard drugs would be taken for treatment and rehabilitation.
Babafemi reiterated that the rehabilitation centers were essential as they would serve as a guide against attempts by school authorities to expel students who tested positive for hard drugs from the school system.
“Rather than throwing students who test positive for illicit drugs out of the school system, an action that could worsen their plight; rehabilitation centers must be created.
“In this way, these or new students could be reintegrated into the school system and remain useful people in life, not only for themselves, their families and their communities, but for the country as a whole”, a- he declared.
According to him, the infrastructure and all other plans to achieve this goal are underway in some higher institutions.
“A number of institutions have started the process.
Babafemi said the planned drug test, although not enshrined in national law, was simply meant to compel stakeholders, including higher institutions, to own it and make it their own for the sake of the community. all.
“Thus, each institution has the responsibility to put in place mechanisms for the screening test, whether independently or in partnership with the NDLEA,” he said. (NAN)
