No hiding place for drug traffickers in Bayelsa, says Dickson

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State said on Friday that anyone planning to engage in the illicit drug business should have a rethink as the South-South state will not harbour drug traffickers
Dickson gave the warning during the World Drug Free Day organised by the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The governor, represented by Dr Ayibatonye Owei, the state’s Commissioner for Health, said the government will cooperate with the NDLEA and sister agencies in ensuring that apprehended traffickers were made to face the full wrought of the law.
Dickson urged the Chairmen of the Local Government Areas in the state to ensure that rural areas were free from drugs of various kinds, particularly the cultivation of Indian hemp.
“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the victims of drug abuse are rehabilitated and never to go back to hard substance of any kind.
“Drug abuse is a universal problem, therefore, the people of Bayelsa must stand up to say no to drugs’’, he said.
The governor commended all sister agencies that had been helping NDLEA in fighting the menace of illicit drugs in Bayelsa State.
Mrs Josephine Obi, Commander of NDLEA in Bayelsa, said drug abuse and illicit trafficking had become a universal problem not limited to Nigeria or Africa.
She said the agency had carried out enlightenment programmes to educate young people in schools, churches and public places on the dangers of drug abuse.
She urged the youths to desist from drug and other hard substances harmful to health.