Dr Taiwo Malomo, a Principal Medical Officer, Surgical Emergency Department, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, has tasked the church and parents on the need to show more commitment in addressing drug abuse among the youth.
Malomo made the call at a programme organised by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), House of Joy Parish in Abuja.
The programme, Women in Ministry Conference, is themed tagged: “Women of the Right Hand.”
The three-day conference is aimed to address issues relating to the needy, homeless, sick, prisoners, drug addicts, sex workers and people who required one intervention or the other.
Malomo said many youths today had imprisoned themselves to drugs and finding it extremely difficult to get out of the self imprisonment.
”Therefore, parents, especially mothers, must as a matter of urgency rise up to tackle this menace,” he said.
He said the Christians probably felt that substance abuse was alien to the church and the congregation, saying that ”the reality is that drug use is no respecter of gender, status religion or education.”
He said the church, as part of the molding agent, must deploy assets in the direction in order to set men and women at liberty and freedom from every form of drug addiction.
Malomo expressed worry that children between the ages of 8 and 10 were exposed to and use dangerous substances and drugs.
”I think another fact that should bother us as Christian mothers in the ministry is that there is no Christian university or higher institution that is free from this scourge.
”This should open our consciousness to the doors of the vastness of the prison imposed by the use of various drugs and substances in the country, and particularly more worrisome amongst our teenagers, youths, young adults and even the older generation,” he said.
Malomo, however, said the church must actively discourage stigma and discrimination to enable the victims and their families to seek help without fear.
He also urged the church to make family matters prominent and not just sermons for the sake of preaching.
The Pastor-in-Charge, RCCG House of Joy Parish, Pastor Olawale Oluyombo, advised parents to be their children’s friends and monitor them by ensuring they are properly guided in the way of God.
