Bishop asks faith leaders to Lead Anti-Drug Campaign

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the General Overseer of Fresh Anointing International Church, Bishop (Dr.) Adegoke Itiola, on Saturday called on religious leaders and institutions to lead the campaign against the growing menace of drug abuse in Nigeria. The agency and the clergyman described drug abuse as a pandemic which requires the […]

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the General Overseer of Fresh Anointing International Church, Bishop (Dr.) Adegoke Itiola, on Saturday called on religious leaders and institutions to lead the campaign against the growing menace of drug abuse in Nigeria.

The agency and the clergyman described drug abuse as a pandemic which requires the concerted effort of all stakeholders to tackle, especially among the youths.

They spoke at the National Youth Conference 2025 of the church held at Fresh Camp in Akinale along the Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway.

The two-day conference, tagged “Thriving in Purpose and Clarity,” attracted teeming youths and women of the church from different parts of the country.

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Giving a lecture on drug abuse, the NDLEA’s Narcotics Commander in Ogun State, Tijani Rabe, expressed worry over rising drug abuse among Nigerian youths.

Represented by Sarah Afolabi Ayodele, Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics 1, Rabe identified peer pressure, curiosity and experimentation, stress and depression, broken homes, poor parenting, media or social media influence, as some of the factors responsible for drug abuse among youths.

The commander also said abuse of drugs had pushed many young men and women into mental illness, depression, and prison.

Rabe, however, called on the youths to at all times “say no to drugs,” saying drugs have no benefit but to destroy lives.

The NDLEA boss also pointed out that churches and religious bodies can help fight drug abuse.

“The first thing is to provide spiritual guidance and counselling. When you find out that some people are already addicted to drugs, they need help, they need counselling.

“Religious bodies can also teach morals and ethical values on the pulpit, raise awareness on drug abuse, educate at youths’ gatherings, [and] conduct community sensitisation.

“As religious institutions, we need to work on early identification of someone that is at risk. These people also need support and encouragement; we don’t need to judge or stigmatise them. They need acceptance and love,” the commander said.

Speaking with newsmen, Bishop Itiola described the conference as a combined one for the women and the youths in order to impact the lives spiritually, materially, amongst others.

He particularly explained that the focus on drug abuse was part of the church’s commitment to tackling the menace in society.

“We do this virtually every year and we see positive impacts in their lives. When you look on Facebook, for example, you will see young people who are ‘high on this’ and ‘high on that’ behaving in very strange ways. They are actually destroying themselves physically, mentally, and their future. So, we felt we should take advantage of our coming together and bring in the problem of drugs,” Itiola said.

He, however, urged other churches to join in preaching against drug abuse.

“My appeal to other churches is that, yes, go ahead and preach the gospel, but part of preaching the gospel also is telling them (youths) to run away from these things in order not to destroy their lives,” he said.

On the nation’s challenges, he called on leaders to always have the interest of the masses in mind.

The clergyman also urged Nigerians and religious leaders to always pray for the leaders in order to make right decisions.

Itiola said, “Let me make an appeal to our leaders not to forget their promises and not to forget that the people that voted them into offices are still looking up to them to fulfill their promises.

“And by the way, those of you who are complaining about leaders, if you were there, you would probably do worse. They need our prayers. I’m a deliverance minister; I just imagine the amount of pressure these leaders are under, the amount of juju that is being thrown at them to make mistakes. God said we should pray for our leaders, and I think as churches we need to raise up prayers for our leaders to lead us in the right way.”