…in areas of technical support, training and capacity building
The United Nation Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) has assured the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) of its collaboration in the areas of technical support, training, program sharing and capacity building in its fight against cultism and other related vices.
This assurance was made by the Country Representative of UNODC in Nigeria, Oliver Stolpe when the POCACOV National Coordinator, CSP Ebere Amaraizu and some national officers of POCACOV visited the United Nation building in Abuja, in view of UNODC invitation to POCACOV, for collaboration in the campaign against cultism in Nigeria.
UNODC Representative, Oliver Stolpe who gave oversight of the activities of the agency here in Nigeria, said that POCACOV will be made to participate in some ongoing programs, while a strategic framework will be developed to address issues of organized crimes, piracy and kidnapping, especially in the Niger Delta region and riverine areas of the country.
“According to the Nigeria Drug Use Survey of 2018, there are over 14.4% of the population between 15-64 years who have used either an illicit drug consumed a pharmaceutical drug for non-medical purposes during the preceding 12 months,” Stolpe said.
In view of the UNODC Drug use was found to be most common among 25 and 39 years old. However, more recently collected data suggests that first-time drug users may be on average becoming younger. Results showed that 29.7% of the admissions were for people between the ages of 15-24 years.
These numbers called for an urgent intervention aimed to curb the further spread of the drug use epidemic, in particular among young people, through evidence-based prevention programmes.
Addressing the UNODC Country Representative, the POCACOV National Coordinator CSP Ebere Amaraizu said the program which is a community based progarm, domiciled at the Office of the Force Public Relations Department of the Nigerian Police Force seeks to adopt a proactive approach in tackling the menace of cultism and other vices, among Nigerian youths.
Amaraizu informed the UNODC Rep that activities of the program has been stakeholders sponsored, but need a more robust collaboration with agencies like UNODC and other multilateral organizations to stem the ugly tide of cultism and change the narrative in the country.
He outlined some of the campaign programs which include school chess program, advocacy on Sustainable Development Goals of Decent Work and Economic Growth as that of Goal 11 of Sustainable Cities and communities, virtual school E-Learning program, school taekwondo training, seminars, workshops among others.
He advocated for UNDOC collaboration for a more robust approach in the areas of cult related survey mapping, technical support, training, program sharing and capacity building in the fight against cultism and other vices.
Other National Officers on the visit include POCACOV Lead Country Advisor Ashley Emenike, Rivers State Coordinator and South-South Regional Coordinator, DSP Abdullahi Yusuf Idi, Peterson Ojieson and POCACOV Media Officer, Onuora Aninwobodo.
The visit specifically sets to seek a strategic collaboration with UNODC towards sustainable campaign against cultism and other vices through a multilateral approach.
