The Nigerian Army has intensified its campaign against drug and substance abuse among young people in Yobe State, warning students that illicit drug use can destroy their future while also creating vulnerabilities that criminal and terrorist networks may exploit.
More than 300 students drawn from schools across Yobe State participated in an awareness programme organised by Sector 2, Joint Task Force North East, Operation HADIN KAI, at Government Girls Unity College, Damaturu.
The programme, held on Thursday, September 24, was themed, “Education as a Strategic Tool for Combating Drugs and Substance Abuse: Impact on National Security.”
Commander of Sector 2, Operation HADIN KAI, Brigadier General Edet Effiong, led the campaign and urged students to rely on education, discipline and responsible choices as protection against harmful substances.
But beyond the warning to students, the campaign places the issue of Yobe student drug abuse within a wider security challenge confronting the North-East.
The Army’s message is that substance abuse should not be treated only as a personal health problem. Illicit drugs can also intersect with crime, trafficking and insecurity, making prevention among young people part of a broader effort to strengthen communities.
Army takes anti-drug message to Yobe students
Speaking on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, Effiong warned that substance abuse could damage the wellbeing and prospects of young people.
He told the students that education, discipline and positive decision-making should form their defence against drugs and other harmful substances.
The message was deliberately taken into a school environment.
That is important because preventing Yobe student drug abuse requires reaching young people before experimentation develops into dependency or involvement in illicit drug networks.
Schools provide one of the most effective environments for such early intervention.
Teachers interact with students regularly, classmates can influence one another positively or negatively, and behavioural changes can sometimes be noticed before a problem becomes severe.
The challenge is therefore not simply to tell students that drugs are dangerous but to give them enough information to recognise risky behaviour and understand where they can seek help.
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Army links substance abuse with national security
The most important part of the campaign was the connection drawn between drugs and security.
Operation HADIN KAI is primarily associated with military operations against terrorism and other security threats in the North-East.
Its involvement in a school-based drug prevention programme reflects what the military describes as a non-kinetic approach to security.
Rather than relying exclusively on armed operations, security agencies also attempt to reduce social vulnerabilities that criminal groups could exploit.
The Army said preventing drug abuse could help deny criminal and terrorist networks opportunities to exploit vulnerable young people or benefit from illicit activities.
That gives the campaign a broader significance.
The concern over Yobe student drug abuse is therefore connected not only to the health of individual students but also to community resilience in a region that has experienced years of insecurity.
Drug arrests provide immediate security context
The timing of the campaign is significant.
Days before the school programme, troops of the 27 Task Force Brigade arrested nine suspected drug dealers during an operation in Buni Yadi, Gujba Local Government Area.
The operation took place on September 19.
The suspects were reportedly found with substances suspected to include cannabis, tramadol and other controlled drugs.
They were subsequently handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for further investigation and necessary legal action.
The Army said that operation formed part of efforts to disrupt criminal activities and restrict access to illicit substances by terrorist networks.
Those arrests provide an important backdrop to the campaign against Yobe student drug abuse.
One operation targeted suspected suppliers.
The other focused on prevention among potential young users.
Together, they illustrate the supply-and-demand dimensions of the illicit drug problem.
Security operations can disrupt suspected dealers and trafficking networks, but enforcement alone cannot eliminate demand.
Prevention, education, counselling and rehabilitation remain necessary.
NDLEA joins awareness programme
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency participated in the Damaturu programme and delivered presentations to the students.
The agency’s involvement is particularly important because the NDLEA remains Nigeria’s specialised institution for combating illicit drug trafficking and promoting drug-demand reduction.
Its role goes beyond arrests and seizures.
Prevention campaigns, school sensitisation, counselling and public education are also part of efforts to reduce drug abuse.
The Army-NDLEA partnership therefore combines security experience with specialised drug-control expertise.
For Yobe student drug abuse prevention to be sustainable, however, such collaboration will need to extend beyond a single awareness programme.
Regular engagement in schools can help reinforce the message.
Education becomes first line of prevention
The theme of the programme placed education at the centre of prevention.
That is a significant approach.
Young people who understand the health, legal and social consequences associated with substance abuse are better equipped to make informed decisions.
But effective drug education should go beyond fear.
Students also need practical information about peer pressure, emotional stress, addiction, mental wellbeing and how to seek professional help without being stigmatised.
Drug dependency is a complex public-health problem.
Some young people begin experimenting because of peer influence.
Others may encounter substances through social environments, stress or misinformation.
That means tackling Yobe student drug abuse requires an approach combining prevention, early identification, treatment and rehabilitation where necessary.
Yobe has already recorded enforcement operations
The latest school campaign is taking place against a wider backdrop of anti-drug operations in Yobe.
Earlier in 2026, the NDLEA’s Yobe State Command reported arresting 151 suspects and seizing more than 328 kilograms of illicit drugs over a one-year period.
The command said it had also carried out intelligence-led operations against drug joints and trafficking networks while conducting awareness campaigns in primary and secondary schools.
Those figures should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that drug use is increasing among Yobe students.
Arrest and seizure statistics measure law-enforcement activity and detected offences, not the prevalence of drug use among the entire student population.
But they demonstrate that illicit drugs remain an active law-enforcement concern in the state.
That makes sustained prevention of Yobe student drug abuse relevant to both education and security authorities.
Schools cannot fight drug abuse alone
The Director of Schools Management at the Yobe State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Idriss Mohammed Fune, commended the Army’s initiative and encouraged participating students to take the anti-drug message beyond the programme.
Students were urged to speak to their peers, families and communities.
Educators were also encouraged to continue raising awareness about the consequences of substance abuse.
That community approach is important.
Schools can educate students, but parents and communities also influence behaviour.
Parents need to recognise warning signs.
Teachers need guidance on how to respond when they suspect substance abuse.
Students need safe channels through which they can seek assistance.
Health professionals and drug-control agencies need to be accessible when intervention becomes necessary.
Without those connections, an anti-drug campaign can easily become a one-day event rather than a sustained prevention strategy.
National authorities increasingly target schools
Nigeria has increasingly focused drug-prevention efforts on educational institutions.
The NDLEA and Federal Ministry of Education have previously agreed on measures aimed at strengthening drug education in schools.
The agency has also advocated stronger prevention programmes in tertiary institutions and warned that substance abuse is no longer exclusively a street problem.
That wider national approach strengthens the case for sustained action against Yobe student drug abuse.
Prevention is generally more effective when young people repeatedly encounter accurate information through schools, families and community institutions rather than receiving occasional warnings.
The objective should be to create an environment in which refusing illicit drugs becomes the easier decision.
Security requires more than military operations
The Nigerian Army described the Damaturu campaign as part of the non-kinetic component of its operations.
That concept deserves attention.
Years of military operations in the North-East have demonstrated that security cannot be measured solely by territory recovered or suspects arrested.
Communities must also be resilient enough to resist recruitment, criminal exploitation and other pressures.
Education forms part of that resilience.
So do employment opportunities, functioning institutions, effective policing and community trust.
Drug prevention fits within that wider framework when illicit substances contribute to crime or make vulnerable young people easier targets for exploitation.
But drug abuse should not be treated as proof that a young person is involved in terrorism or criminality.
That distinction is essential.
Most people struggling with substance-use problems require health, counselling and rehabilitation interventions, not automatic criminal labelling.
Students should be protected, not stigmatised
A successful campaign against Yobe student drug abuse must therefore avoid turning prevention into stigma.
Young people who develop substance-use problems should be encouraged to seek assistance.
If students fear punishment, humiliation or permanent labelling, they may hide their problems until they become more severe.
Schools should combine clear rules against illicit substances with confidential counselling and referral mechanisms.
The same principle applies to families.
Early intervention can prevent experimentation from becoming dependency.
That is why education remains central to the strategy presented in Damaturu.
From awareness to sustained action
The Army said Sector 2 Operation HADIN KAI would continue engaging schools, communities and relevant government agencies as part of efforts to strengthen public awareness and long-term security.
That commitment will be important.
The effectiveness of the campaign should ultimately be measured not by the number of students who attended one programme or the number of souvenirs distributed, but by whether young people receive continuing education and access to support.
Authorities should also distinguish between drug-use prevention and law-enforcement operations.
Suspected traffickers require investigation and, where evidence supports prosecution, due legal process.
Young people struggling with addiction require treatment and rehabilitation.
Students who have not begun using drugs need credible education that helps them resist pressure.
These are different groups requiring different responses.
Yobe student drug abuse campaign carries wider message
The Damaturu programme demonstrates how the fight against illicit drugs is increasingly intersecting with Nigeria’s wider security strategy.
For the Nigerian Army, preventing young people from becoming vulnerable to substance abuse can contribute to stronger communities.
For the NDLEA, education reduces demand while enforcement targets illicit supply.
For schools, the priority is protecting students and keeping them focused on their education.
And for families, early awareness can prevent a young person’s experimentation from becoming a much more difficult problem.
The campaign against Yobe student drug abuse will therefore achieve more if Thursday’s event becomes part of a sustained programme rather than an isolated intervention.
More than 300 students have heard the message in Damaturu.
The next challenge is ensuring that the message reaches thousands more, while students already struggling with substance abuse can access counselling, treatment and rehabilitation.
The strongest anti-drug strategy is not simply telling young people what to avoid.
It is giving them the education, support and opportunities that make a safer future possible.
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