Sokoto state governor Aminu Tambuwal has advocated for the total ban of Codeine syrups in the country.
The former speaker of the House of representative made this call at the Senate Roundtable on Drug Abuse held in the Kano state capital.
The two-day program which was put together was part of the lawmaker’s efforts to address the increasing crisis resulting from drug abuse in the country with the aim of finding a lasting solution.
The governor who spoke through the Sokoto state Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, said banning the syrup was necessary to check its indiscriminate use and rampant abuse by youth.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the Kano state governor Kakale who represented Governor Tambuwal at the roundtable discussion said “this is a straightforward message of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and Governor Tambuwal that there should be a total ban on syrups containing codeine. Codeine syrups only push youths and married women to become drug addicts in the country because it is not a life-saving drug and the country can do without having it
According to Kakale the call was necessary because the syrups that contained codeine were not life-saving drugs but drivers of drug abuse among the youths in the country.
Meanwhile Ahmed Gana a renowned pharmacist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital who had earlier urged the federal government to declare a state of emergency in the three most affected states of drug abuse said total banning would enable the government to establish rehabilitation centres to cater for drug abuse victims with a view to making them useful members of the society.
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