Parents, clergies and the public at large have a duty towards ensuring a better society by ensuring that the right habits are inculcated into their children and wards.
In an interview on the endemic state of drug and substance use by the youths in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Asiwaju Carlo Babatunde Sonupe said that government alone cannot rid the society of the wreck that has been made over the years by parents and guardians through their wrong perception about child raising.
He emphasised that substance use has cascaded down to the primary schools, which makes the situation a very bad one.
Sonupe therefore called on all and sundry to wake up and realise that money alone does not make a good society.
He said that religious houses and leaders must come together with parents to ensure that the right moral standards are upheld in the society, noting that the supposed future of the country are the same youths that have made drugs, substance use and internet fraud their past time.
Sonupe lamented: “Some parents don’t even ask their children or wards where they get money from, hence the high rate of crime within our community”.
He eulogised the past and present state administrations in Lagos on the state of security, and the establishment of the security trust fund that is being used judiciously.
The community leader therefore called on everyone to see this as a wake-up call to duty in assisting the state and Federal Governments to rid our society of crime.
“Though we know that it can’t be totally eradicated but it can be reduced to the barest minimum”, he said, adding that the law enforcement agents are not mind readers or magicians hence the need for cooperation from the society through proper and sincere release of information by members of the society .
Sonupe said that the involvement of the youths in gainful engagements and positive activities by community leaders , religious bodies and parents would help the government and the society.
He said: “We can’t afford to have a community of jobless and drug ladened youths. Please kindly see this as a clarion call for us to wake up and do the needful as parents, guardians and leaders of today and tomorrow. The time is NOW”!
