Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare to enlighten youths on drug abuse in the ‘MTN Drug Convos’

The Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare will be joining the ‘Better Knowledge for Better Care’ event organized by telecom giant MTN to enlighten the youths on the dangers of drug and substance abuse on Friday, June 26, 2020.

The virtual event dubbed ‘MTN Drug Convos’ is being held in commemoration of the 2020 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. It seeks to highlight the extent of damage that drug abuse has done to a lot of young Nigerians and how to reverse the trend.

Over the past few years, there have been growing cases of drug and substance abuse among young people in Nigeria, with about 40 percent of the youths reportedly ‘high’ on various psychoactive drugs, including crack, codeine, tramadol, ‘gutter water’ and other dangerous substances.

To address the issue, Dare will be joining the conversation as a special guest where the Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe; child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Yewande Oshodi; Nollywood actress, Ini Edo among others will engage in a candid discussion on drug abuse. The session will be moderated by Nigerian social commentator, writer and public speaker, J.J Omojuwa.

The MTN ‘Drug Convos’ is a part of MTN’s Anti Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) which was launched in December 2018 to create awareness about drug and substance abuse.

“The annual World Drug Day commemorated on June 26 aligns with the MTN Foundation’s objective to spearhead a multi-sectoral approach to the fight against substance abuse in Nigeria,” the event objective read.