The Hijrah Islamic Organisation of Nigeria (HION) Thursday decried the high prevalence of drug abuse in Kwara state.
The national chairman of Hijrah Islamic Organisation, Professor Badmas Yusuf, raised the alarm at an event organised to mark the 1447 Hijrah in Ilorin, Kwara state.
“The evidence is glaring. Drug abuse is no longer limited to youth, it is becoming widespread,” Yusuf lamented.
He urged the state government to vigorously enforce the Ilorin Township Law (Prohibition against the production, sale, and consumption of liquor in certain areas), passed in 2018 and consider its extension across Ilorin and other towns that uphold Islamic values.
He also stated the urgent need for government at all levels, especially the federal government to create job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth across the country.
The chairman of the occasion, Malam Yusuf Ali (SAN), who was represented by Kehinde Eleja, said deliberate efforts must be made by all the stakeholders to provide employment opportunities for the youth to check the problem of insecurity across the country.
The keynote speaker and grand Khadi of Kwara state, Justice AbdulLateef Kamaldeen, advised the youth to take the advantage of education, entrepreneurship and technology, saying that “despite the challenges we face as a nation, and as Muslims, there is hope.”
In his lecture, national missioner, Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria, Sheik Abdulmumeen Ayara, raised concern over what he called the decline in the number of Arabic and Islamic subjects teachers in both primary and secondary schools in Kwara state.
He said that the introduction of Civic Education as a subject cannot be a replacement for Arabic and Islamic subjects, urging the government to address the situation to arrest the rate of moral decadence in the society.