By Ukandi Odey
Jos
The Plateau State Police Command has raised alarm over the rise in activities of cultists in the state, even as the command has vowed to checkmate the cultists who have become a growing menace in the state.
Speaking to journalists in Jos, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Patrick Edung, who decried the high level of illicit drug use among youth, said the police and other sister agencies were working together in a bid to curb the menace.
Edung who spoke during the monthly Peace Architecture Dialogue (PAD), meeting organised by Search For Common Ground (SFCG), Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), funded by the European Union (EU), lamented that the command has in its custody a worrisome number of youths.
He said most of the youths are in Police custody as a result of drug induced crimes ranging from rape, cultism and armed robbery, noting that unemployment was a factor stimulating youths into social vices.
He called on government at all levels to be committed to providing gainful job opportunities for the teeming youths, some of who are graduates of universities and other tertiary institutions.
Guest Speaker at the meeting, Salis Abdulsalam, said, the use of illicit drugs among youths in this state is a major factor facilitating the breach of peace, adding that family values which were supposed to be inculcated in the youth by parents and guardians, have lost their place in the society.
The meeting had in attendance stakeholders in the state which include, Operation Safe Heaven, representative of the state’s security task force, Operation Rainbow, representative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), youth leaders among others.