The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has raised the alarm that many of the corps members in the country are drug addicts.
Its Ondo state Coordinator, Mrs Victoria Ani raised the alarm at the 2021 Corps employers workshop in Akure, the Ondo state capital.
Speaking on the workshop’s theme, “Optimizing the NYSC/ Corps employers Partnership for National Development in the context of the New Normal,” Ani expressed worries over the rate at which Corps members were involved in drug abuse in the country.
Stakeholders who attended the workshop while speaking complained that many of the corps members deployed in their establishments for their primary assignment engaged in various acts of drug abuse and smoking of Indian hemp.
Responding, Ani said “for the Corps members that take weeds, I need to let you know that NYSC is doing so much. Many of our Corps members are drug addicts.
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“I am talking out of experience. When we go to camp, we start from day one to tell them that if they were into it, it was an opportunity for them to drop such habits.
“In this our very last orientation, we had one that was suffering from withdrawal syndrome. We were managing this boy and he was eagerly wanting to take more.
“I never knew that this TomTom, when you put it inside coca cola, it will make you high. I never knew that when they hold Lacasera, you will think it is Lacasera.
“Even Known seasoning cubes that you and I use in cooking. These children will put it inside Lacasera, drink it and they are high. In the scheme, we counsel them, and we keep talking to them every morning.
“Another female corps member brought over one hundred tablets of Diazepam drugs to the camp.
“So the issue of drug abuse is getting alarming. Some will wake up at midnight and shout, they will refuse to close their mouths till daybreak, disturbing others.
“We keep telling them that if they are into drugs, they should drop it outside before entering orientation camp within three weeks and once they could achieve that, they could live a normal life.
Ani, however, called for collaborative efforts from all stakeholders in addressing the increasing rate of drug abuse and addiction among Corps members.
The Director-General of National Youth Service Corps, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, in his message said that corps members’ employers don’t have the authority to approve movement of corps members outside the state of deployment.
Speaking through the Director, NYSC South West Area office, Mr Tunde Fadairo, the DG said that employers could only approve their Letter of leave or travel to the state coordinator who will approve such letters to travel outside the country by any corps member.