Group charges entertainers on tackling drug abuse

Valentine Ani, Executive Director, Campaign Against Drugs and Substance Abuse, has urged entertainers to use their respective platforms to tackle the challenges posed by drug and substance abuse in Nigeria. Speaking during the NGO’s media launch in Lagos, Ani noted that youths are fond of entertainment, as he urged entertainers to be at the forefront of leading the campaign against the abuse of illicit drugs in the country. Stating that he is from a background where drugs have created havoc, Ani said he has taken it upon himself to get people that are also passionate about this course to form a front and begin to campaign against it. According to him, “Entertainment is no doubt something that the youths cannot do without. The truth is that we have been producing more of the negative aspects of what our creativity can do. Entertainment is a force that if properly channeled, it will create positive changes. “But most of our colleagues are somehow guilty of drug use and drug abuse. I know that if we are able to do this from within the entertainment industry, it will be a lot faster in taking this message to the youth and then getting the youths off drugs because entertainers are like icon and once we are able to get all hands on deck across board, I think the awareness against drug abuse will spread faster.”