
President Bola Tinubu has implored the Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies in Africa to renew the fight against substance abuse.
Tinubu made the call while declaring open the 31st meeting of the Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, Africa (HONLAF), on Tuesday in Abuja.
Represented by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, the president also enjoined the continent’s anti-drugs agencies to fight against illicit drug trafficking in their respective countries.
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He warned vehemently that the African continent would remain in chains till it breaks free from the shackles of the criminal enterprises of drug barons and syndicates of illicit drugs.
“If we don’t dismantle the criminal enterprises that threaten our future and build a brighter tomorrow for all Africans, we will remain in chains in a diseased and amoral world, as will our children and their children.”
Speaking in his keynote address, titled, “Rising Above the Drug Threat”, Tinubu said that “Africa was at the mercy of a threat that knows neither race nor geography, neither gender nor social class.”
He, therefore, enjoined the African heads of drug law enforcement agencies to consider the conference in Abuja as a ray of hope and a catalyst for positive change across the continent.