Sports Writers Association Of Nigeria (SWAN), Ondo State chapter, in conjunction with National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have put necessary mechanism in motion to tackle the menace of drug abuse among athletes in the country.
Ondo State Chairman of Sports Writers Association,Segun Giwa, said the association has partnered with NDLEA to tackle the menace among youths (athletes) through sensitization programme with the theme: “Drug Abuse: Battling Menace in Nigerian Sports”.
The Programme is scheduled to hold at the Indoor hall of Ondo State Sports Council,Akure on Friday.
He added that many great athletes had had their careers cut short due to unapproved drug intake and performance enhancement drugs.
Giwa said orientation and reorientation remained the best way to help government to tackle the menace amongst the athletes and fans, saying, “many young men in the street have ruined their life through the intake of drugs.”
He added that the sensitisation programme will broader the knowledge of athletes on why they should do away with any performance enhancement drugs, adding that the drugs that seemed to help their career will cut it short and make them lives a miserable even before retirement.
The chairman disclosed that ex-Olympians like Coach Lawrence Adegbehingbe and Seun Ogunkoya and sports Administrators are expected to grace to occasion.
“We don’t want to be a sports reporters alone, but a critical stakeholders in the development of sports and without athletes their cant be any sports, so it’s pertinent to join hands with other critical stakeholders to sensitise and guiding the athletes,”