The Executive Director of Savana Signatures, Dr Stephen Agbenyo, has observed that parental control is very critical and fundamental in the advocacy and campaign against substance abuse in the country. He emphasized the point of parental responsibility in combating the menace which is increasingly becoming a national crisis is crucial, adding, “This is something we cannot belabor.”
Dr Agbenyo made this point during a Stakeholder Engagement on Combating Substance Abuse in Northern Ghana on the theme: “From Awareness to Action: Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Solutions for a Substance-Free Northern Ghana” organized by the Savana Signatures dated Thursday, May 29, in Tamale.
Delivering his closing remarks, Dr Agbenyo highlighted the important role of the media in the fight against substance abuse among the youth, urging Journalists to advocate for the government to institute the necessary reforms to protect the nation’s borders to curb the influx of such illegal drugs into the country.
“But for me fundamentally, our Chief spoke about the BBC documentary; it exposes how porous our borders are, how these would come in such that we’re not able to protect them at the ports.
“It reminds us, [for the media] to also raise these questions and get answers and possibly push for reforms if the need to so our borders are well protected that we do not have all of these things all the way from India passing through and ending up here in Tamale” he said.
Notwithstanding this, the Executive Director indicated that his outfit will intensify the campaign presently ongoing in some Senior High Schools and further extend it to tertiary institutions as well.
“We will continue the campaign and even move beyond the Senior High Schools that we are currently in, increase the tempo to the tertiary institutions – Technical Universities, Colleges of Education, the Universities but also most importantly the out of school youth.
“And I do know that, sometime next week, we will have the cinema platform and have a campaign at the Taxi rank to orient our out of school youth – it’s a campaign we’ve taken up” he added.
Dr Stephen Agbenyo further urged the media to collaborate with the organization and provide airtime to support the advocacy against the menace and its associated dangers.
