Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar has noted with dismay the alarming rate at which married women were involved in drug abuse, saying this would be part of their discussion during the forthcoming traditional rulers council meeting.
The monarch made this known when Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam, was bestowed with Honorary Membership Status of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) at its 51st Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference held in Sokoto.
His assersion might not be unconnected with the recent cases of domestic violence which were associated with drug abuse in the country.
"It is a very alarming and terrible trend which required drastic action to be curtailed, "he stated the monarch challenged members of SOGON to use their good offices to checkmate drug abuse, especially among the woman folks.
"Can we enforce ban on even the production of cough syrup. Can we place a ban of its sales in some of our pharmaceutical shops?," he asked. The monarch said the traditional leaders had done a lot to do to reverse the ugly trend, " it will form part of our agenda during our next meeting," he added.
He felicitated with Governor Geidam and the people of Yobe state for the prestigious award which he said was a sign of good leadership.
In his remarks, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, commended the Governor for his giant stride in the health sector despite insurgent attacks in his state.
He said that Sokoto state would continue to partner with SOGON to deliver qualitative health services to their people.
In his acceptance speech, Geidam said the health system in Yobe State before the inception of his administration was characterized by a decline in health indicators as a result of neglect by the successive past administrations, thus he declared a State of emergency in the health sector and took far reaching steps to address the problems militating against health care delivery in the state.
"We now have a total of 528 health facilities with 327 of them offering routine Immunization in addition to seven comprehensive health centres, and 85 dispensaries which were upgraded to the status of maternal and child welfare clinics and provided with Ambulance each," he said
The National President of the SOGON, Prof. Joseph Ifeanyi, stated that the society bestowed honorary membership on Ibrahim Geidam, in recognition of the giant strides recorded in the state in strengthening healthcare and tackling maternal and child mortality.
