Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has officially flagged off the substance abuse test for the officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service nationwide.

The exercise was conducted through a virtual conference hooked up by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Interior, Barr Georgina Ekeoma Ehuriah, Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede and all the heads of the eight directorates at the NIS Headquarters.

Others are the eight Zonal Coordinators across the country and 36 State Command Comptrollers including the FCT, Abuja.

Tagged “Test Begins With Me”, the exercise was performed in compliance with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The Virtual Conference was also joined virtually by the Country Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime(UNODC) Mr Oliver Stolpe and Country Chief of Mission of International Organization for Migration (IOM) Celestine Frantz, the representative of the Chairman /Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)represented by the Secretary Shedrack Haruna.

This was contained in a release by the national public relations officer of NIS Sunday James, a Deputy Comptroller, made available to journalists.

According to the release, the test was championed by the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service Muhammad Babandede in his avowed determination against substance abuse to enable officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service work with good psychological and emotional state of mind as they carryout their statutory assignments at the border frontiers which include airport, seaport, land borders within the hinterlands of the 36 state commands.

They also include the eight Zonal offices, other special formations like the Rapid Response Team, Special Border Corps operatives and Divisional Immigration Officers (DIOs) serving in 774 local government of the Fédération capturing all the officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service.

The Head of NIS Medical Unit, Dr Funsho, an Assistant Comptroller of Immigration explained the essence of officers working in right frame of mind to deliver optimally and to live a healthy and sound mind.

In his address, the representative of the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Shedrack Haruna assured the Minister of Interior, Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service of the agency’s willingness to collaborate in the area of rehabilitation for those that are found to test positive and also extend the goodwill to the Military, Security, and response agencies in the country and the civil populace to rid the country of millions who are into substance abuse for a better nation.

The Country Director UNODC also assured of the cooperation of the office in addressing the issues of substance abuse among students in the institutions of learning across the Country and as frontline office fighting drug abuse internationally, promised to support the National agencies in the fight and also in the area of expert advise and management of the hydra headed disease among the youths and older generation that is found to be an underlining factor in various criminal cases statiscally recorded among convicts, deviance, juvenile delinquents, rape cases.