Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Buba Marwa, has said young Nigerians will soon be required to obtain a drug-free certificate from the agency before getting married.
According to him, parents will be asked to list such documents certifying their children’s spouses free from illicit drugs as part of the requirements for approving their children’s marriage.
Marwa disclosed this on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti at a colloquium tagged: “Walk Away from Drugs” organised by Ekiti State Ministry of Justice.
According to him, the measure has become imperative, considering the worsening menace of drug use in the country.
He said: “In Nigeria today, there is no challenge that is more worrisome than drug abuse.
“For instance, insurgency, kidnapping and banditry are seen as peculiar to certain parts of the country, but drug abuse has no boundary or respect for ethnicity or religion.
“The menace is so worrisome that within the last two months, more than N60 billion worth of illicit drugs have been seized and perpetrators arrested and prosecuted.
“If access to drugs is prevented, criminality can be reduced by 50 per cent,” Marwa said. He called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to campaign against the use of illicit drugs.”
The anti-drug agency boss suggested that parents should include drug certificates as part of the criteria to give their daughters and sons hands in marriage.
“This will be the beginning in reducing drug usage and its prevailing economic effects on the nation,” he added.
Declaring open the event, Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, restated his administration’s commitment to reducing drug abuse.