The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, Emeka Rollas Ejezie, has pledged the support of the Nollywood movie industry to the war against drug abuse championed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
This was during a visit to the Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), at the National Headquarters of the NDLEA in Abuja, on Monday.
Speaking, the AGN President said the era of glorifying drug barons and criminals is far gone while stating that the Guild is ready to support campaigns on the menace of drug abuse and trafficking.
“We are here today to affirm our complete support to your efforts in combating the menace of drugs in our society as we strongly believe will help reduce drug crime to the barest minimum.
“As a Guild of major influencers and in line with our set objectives to educate, inform and entertain as well as our avowed commitment to national development, we seek a mutually beneficial partnership with the NDLEA to leverage on the star-power of our members in promoting some of your transformation programs especially on drug trafficking and abuses.
“The Majority of our members are youths and appeal to a generation of youths who are influenced heavily by internet content and social media.
We have, therefore, outlined some advocacy programs to enlighten Nigerian youths on the dangers of drug abuse and trafficking; they include but not limited to: production of skits majorly for social media campaigns; drama series on negative effects of drug abuses, rehabilitations, eradicating the fear of stigmatisation and advantages of total abstinence; engage some of our A-list actors as NDLEA Ambassadors to help use their star power to discourage the youths from doing drugs, among others.
“We share in the dream of a better Nigeria where success will be the reward for hard work and not through drug trafficking and other drug-related offences.
“The era of glorifying drug barons and criminals is far gone and the Actors Guild of Nigeria, as Ambassadors of Nigeria’s image, is readily available for advocacy campaigns, talk-shops, production of skits, playlets, feature films etc, on the menace of drug abuse and trafficking,” he stated.
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