National Association of Nigerian Drug Monitoring, NANDRUM, on Thursday, partnered with the National Assembly Joint Committee on Drugs and Narcotics to combat drug abuse and peddling of illicit drugs among youths in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and the country in general.

NANDRUM, in its effort to safeguard the country against the illicit drug scourge, also partners with other relevant stakeholders including the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and government agencies like the Police, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, Nigeria Correctional Service, NCS and Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, among others.

At the inauguration, NANDRUM’s executive secretary at the National Assembly, Dr Christabel Okoye, challenged parents and guardians to rein in the menace of drug abuse among their children and wards.

Okoye explained that the association was established to join hands with the relevant government agencies to tackle the menace of trafficking and abuse of illicit substances and to sensitize the general public on the dangers of the scourge in society.

Part of the mandate of NANDRUM, she stressed, is to also bring medicine dealers together.

While noting that NANDRUM had been inaugurated in Anambra, Lagos, Abia, Delta, Kano and Enugu states, the inclusion of the FCT, she avowed, was a positive signal that the war against illicit substances and sale of prohibited drugs is on a sure footing as it is now being waged by the government in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

“This is a fight for all, so we should all join hands together in achieving our goal as members of this great association. Women should sit down and take absolute care of their children. The nation is bleeding because of the menacing effects of substance abuse in the country,” she said.