Founder/President, Silec Initiatives, Amb. Sunny Irakpo,  who also doubles as a youth and anti-drug advocate, has congratulaed President Bola Tinubu on assumption of office, charging him to give privileged attention to the fight against drug abuse.

Irapko, who is also a  U.S Government Sponsored Exchange alumni, and certified by the United Nations on Drug Prevention and Care Sensitization, made the remarks via a statement he signed himself, and made available to The Boss, noting that the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer in the 2023 elections, is the herald of a new era.

The statement in full:

As the nation heralds the emergence of a president like your humble self, there is hope in the land to see the Nigeria of our dream surfaces. We join millions of people across the globe to heartily congratulate you on your successful inauguration as the new president to oversee the affairs of the nation with your deputy His Excellency, Kashim Shettima as the vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

History was made once again on May 29th, 2023 when you were successfully sworn-in as the 16th democratically elected president of the most populous black nation on earth.

As a statesman and an indefatigable leader that fought for democracy since the military days, we are filled with hope that you will revamp critical sectors of the economy by providing the basic necessities of life for all Nigerians. As a firm believer of democratic values and an experienced administrator with track records of excellence, we humbly ask that you look at all sectors of the economy including the health sector and improve on the current state of our infrastructures.

As one of the leading Non Governmental Organizations in the fight against drug abuse and Illicit trafficking in the country, we are mostly concerned about the youths. We are looking forward to seeing your administration combat this enemy of our youths called drug abuse, just like your predecessor, former President Muhammadu Bahari did by throwing his fatherly weight behind the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to launch the master plan to rescue the nation from the den of drugs and substance abuse.

As a lover of the youths, we want you to fight this menace that keep destroying many promising youths, causing serious damages to the nation even on the international space by proving to the whole world that your personality carries a different approach despite the many publications on your person on this subject matter.

Mr President Sir, I must confess to you that the rate at which youths of this great nation are engaging in drugs, if nothing is done to nip it at the bud, we will gradually lose our productive workforce and brilliant minds that could help reposition this nation for rapid development.

No parents will watch his/her ward die while living, the truth is Mr President Sir, many parents are watching their children dying as a result of drug abuse without finding help.

We are fully confident that your administration will prove your political detractors wrong with the many publications put at the public domain that a “Drug Baron” has taken over the affairs of the most populous black nation on earth to turn her economy to a narcotic jungle.

Mr President Sir, as a passionate anti-drug organization , we humbly ask that you prove them wrong by your open presidential declaration to fright drug abuse amongst the youths of Nigeria as you give top most priority to the vigorous war against drug abuse as launched by former President Muhammadu Bahari, under the leadership of Brdg. Gen. Buba Marwa (Retd), the Chairman/CEO of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) whom through his gallant men and civil society groups such as ours, Silec Initiatives is driving the campaign against drugs and substance abuse in order to reduce illicit trafficking in the country.

Mr President Sir, just as we worked successfully with your predecessor through the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), we are fully ready to continue the noble course with your administration in educating the Nigerian populace on the dangers of drug and substance abuse.

You remain a progressive father-figure who will never allow drugs to destroy his children neither allow drug barons and traffickers to have their way to kill our youths and destroy the heritage handed over to us all by our forefathers under your administration.

The NDLEA as the country anti narcotic agency needs all the funding, presidential backing, policy framework and consolidation on the national master plan in the fight against drug abuse and Illicit trafficking to combat the drug epidemic in the country.

On our part as a non governmental organization of international repute championing this campaign for over a decade, we understand the art and science of drug merchandise and the various experimentations presently taking place amongst the Nigerian youths.

No doubt we shall continue to play our pivotal roles as a critical stakeholder by the deployment of our expertise, working closely with the Federal Ministry of Health/Youths and the NDLEA and other critical stakeholders in the areas of research, education, talent discoveries, empowerment and sensitization as alternatives to drug abuse.

As a pragmatic organization, we understand the place of young people in national development which we believe that with your assumption into office , social reengineering and overhaul of the socio-economic sectors to create massive employment to millions of our youths currently jobless leading to consumption of drugs should be prioritized.

As a father, we also appeal to you to launch a reward system for hard working youths who over the years have shown resilience and total commitment to their endeavour and nation building. This reward system should come to youths in the streets, cities and villages across the country.

Mr President Sir, under your administration, let hard work pay for the youths to help restore many of our national values we have lost to the get-rich-quick syndrome by all means engulfing the Nigerian system.

As an harbinger of light on your administration’s ” _RENEWED_ _HOPE_ “, we want to go to the streets energize the creative minds of Nigerian youths to fight passionately and creatively in the course of seeing the Nigerian of our dreams. At SILEC Initiatives, we see all Nigerians as critical stakeholders in nation building. We believe that the fight against drugs should take a centre stage in your government, because we are currently losing promising Nigerian youths and even future industrialists like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Mike Adenuga, Dele Momodu, John Momoh, Alibaba to drugs and substance abuse.

Mr President Sir, many of our youths are wasting away on a regular basis. Please, it will gladden our hearts to see you roll- out a policy framework to combat this cankerworm with the 10th National Assembly.

These negative realities are what we have been fighting against for years and we shall continue to play our continuous role in our capacity on the area of community sensitization, leadership training, peer-to-peer education, mental transformation, value re-orientation and empowerment programs.

We know that you have come as a father to all and to rewrite history that will allow generations unborn to know that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was truly a president for all Nigerians.

Once again, we heartily convey our congratulations to you on your emergence as the 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We pray that God should grant you longer life with good health and wisdom to lead and not rule and the grace to select your cabinet to advance development so Nigeria can be ranked amongst the comity of developed nations of the world under your leadership.