The National Council of Muslim Youth Organization (NACOMYO) has called on religious and community leaders to find lasting solutions to the problems of drug abuse among youths in Jos, Plateau State.
NACOMYO sounded the message through its President, Sani Suleman during a town hall meeting organised by the Muslim youth organisation in collaboration with King Abdullah Bin-Abdulazeez International Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Jos.
The meeting on youth violence and drug abuse held at the Jos North local government secretariat brought together Muslim and Christian religious and community leaders as well as various youth groups in the state.
Suleiman, a fellow of KAICIID urged religious and community leaders to work judiciously to ensure peace and harmony among the various groups and find ways of mentoring youths to deter them from the usage and abuse of illicit drugs.
“Looking at the crimes in most of parts of Jos and communities, we see the need to call on religious and community leaders to rise to the occasion to bring an end to youth violence and drug abuse,” he said.
On his part, Rev. Kpam Rahwol of Church of Christ in Nation (COCIN), Congo Russia; one of the earliest flash points in the city said years of violence had taken the state backwards but stressed that with frequent meetings between religious and community leaders, all forms of criminality would be eliminated.
The Administrative Secretary of Jama’atu Nasril Islam in Plateau State, Abdulazeez Yusuf, described the prevalent criminality and drug abuse in the state as the resultant effect of years of crisis adding that, “the crimes bedevilling our communities today are secondary effects of the crises we have experienced before now. We will continue to pursue peace and unity and JNI will implement whatever agreement reached at the end of the meeting.”
