By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has outlined measures put in place to tackle the challenges of drug abuse and unemployment in West African sub region.
The economic bloc also frowned at the incarceration of drug users, proposing treatment and rehabilitation instead of punishment and incarceration.
President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, said this while presenting the 2024 Interim Report on the State of the Community, at the ongoing First Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.
He said the Commission in February 2024, completed the extension and renovation of the drug and alcohol abuse treatment, education and research ward, at the department of psychiatry, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano.
Touray, said the renovation of the ward at AKTH in Kano brings the number of completed ECOWAS support to member states to improve their drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities to eight, adding that supports to seven more centres are currently ongoing in member states.
He also noted that the Commission in April 2024, validated the 2023 West African Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (WENDU), data and trained 20 WENDU focal points from member states to enhance drug data collection.
The WENDU report, he said is a regional report on illicit drug trafficking and drug use in West Africa that serves as a reference for programming, policy and advocacy interventions to address the social, health and economic consequences of substance abuse.
Speaking on treatment and rehabilitation of drug users, Touray said, “The Commission in June 2024, in collaboration with Enhancing Africa’s Response to Transnational Organized Crime (ENACT), and the Narcotics Control Commission (NCC), of the Republic of Ghana, initiated a programme aimed at diverting people with Drug Use Disorder from incarceration to treatment and rehabilitation. The Alternative to Incarceration (ATI), Programme is a Recovery – coordinated response to drug offenders with Drug Use Disorder within the Criminal Justice System by promoting their recovery and thereby contributing to a safer and crime-free society in the ECOWAS member states”.
To address youth unemployment in West Africa, Touray said the ECOWAS Commission is implementing the ECOWAS Nnamdi Azikiwe Academic Mobility Scheme (ENAAMS).
The main objectives of the Scheme, he said is to equip youths with practical skills and experience in various industries, to enhance their employability.
He said the scheme also encourages the participation of girls and women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as in other specialized field.
The President concluded that in 2024, 108 young graduates within the region, with 55 females and 53 males were selected for the scheme, participating in a 12 months immersion in ECOWAS institutions and agencies.
