The National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, has expressed worry over the high rate of drug abuse and addiction among Corps members.
Victoria Ani, the NYSC coordinator in Ondo State, lamented that the situation calls for concern following the huge numbers of Corps members taking illicit drugs.
Speaking in Akure, at the 2021 Corps members, employers workshop on Wednesday, November 17, 2021, Mrs Ani emphasised that the Corps will not relent in sensitizing Corpers on the dangers of hard drugs.
Stakeholders at the workshop with the theme ‘Optimizing the NYSC/ Corps Employers Partnership for National Development in the context of the New Normal had lamented that many corps members deployed to their establishments for Places of Primary Assignment, PPA, engaged in various acts of drug abuse and smoking of Indian Hemp.
The state coordinator who urged employers of corps members to assist in rehabilitating them rather than rejecting such corps members said “For the Corps members that take weeds, I need to let you know that NYSC is doing so much. Many of our children (Corps members) are drug addicts.
“I am talking out of experience. 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, will make you high. I never knew that when they hold Lacaserra, you will think it is Lacaserra. Even Known seasoning cubes that you and me use in cooking. These children will put it inside Lacassera, drink it and they are high.
Mrs Ani added that “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 be shouting, they will refuse to close their mouths till daybreak, disturbing others.
“So when you have such in your employment, please, let them become your own children, help them because so many of them are into drugs, that is the truth.”
