Codeine: Northern governors’ wives react

The Northern Governor’s Wives Forum has hailed the federal government for the ban on the importation and production of codeine.

DAILY POST reports that the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, had last Tuesday directed the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to ban with immediate effect further issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations.

Reacting, Chairperson of the Forum, Hadiza Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, in a statement by her Press Secretary, Rashida Yusuf, said the ban imposed by the Federal Ministry of Health was a major breakthrough in the fight against drug abuse and addiction in the country.

According to her, “The northern governors’ wives have made the fight against drug abuse a priority. Benue, Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, and Bauchi States had already set up drug community volunteer scheme, skills acquisitions and drop-in-centres as well as provided female rehabilitation centres in their states.”

“Te Centres which are expected to among other things to rehabilitate victims of drug abuse by providing them with counselling and moral support to enable them get reintegrated into their various societies and become useful members of their communities.”

The Forum urged stakeholders involved in the fight against the menace of drug abuse to put all hands on deck to achieve the target of drug-free society urging parents particularly, to monitor their children and wards with a view to nipping in the bud detected untoward behaviours.