By Sebiotimo Busola
StartNowAfrica, an initiative on empowering and encouraging young persons to pursue their dreams early, has embarked on a ‘Say No to Drug Abuse Secondary School Tour’.
The tour convener, Mr Emmanuel Ohore, said he realised that reaching pupils at secondary school level was important in the fight against drug abuse.
“During our campaigns in campuses, we found out that the students were already influenced at secondary school level hence our rationale behind this tour.
“StartNowAfrica’s goal is to reach five million youths through our various platforms including ‘Say No to Drug Abuse Tour,”he said.
Last week, the initiative visited Bethel Primary and Secondary school, Oke-Ira, Ogba, where it enlightened the pupils on the dangers of drug abuse.
One of the members, Busola Sebiotimo, engaged the pupils in a discussion at the end of which the pupils concluded that drug abuse was dangerous.
In February, the tour having been completed in Ogun State where over 1,500 pupils were reached, kicked off in Lagos, starting with Mainland Secondary School, Maryland, Ikeja.
There, the pupils were enlightened by the StartNowAfrica team and a representative of the Human Development Initiative (HDI) about the effects of drug abuse and the need to avoid bad company.
Also, some pupils shared their experiences about contact with drug abuse. One of them, Julius Adeleke (not real names) said: “I used to take drugs, but now I have stopped. What prompted me to stop was the day I took it, I was not in control of myself. I misplaced my phone and money, and then I knew it was not good for the body. Also, my brother who introduced me to it has stopped and he is now a graduate of UNILAG.”
