UGO AMADI
The students who filled the assembly hall of the Community Secondary School, Oruma, weren’t expecting the police or the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA. Neither were they expecting a lecture on prison terms.
But that’s how the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is fighting its newest battle: not with contracts or concrete, but with conversations. The target is drug abuse and cultism. The front line is the region’s secondary schools.
The campaign starts with a hard truth from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. Godwin Erepa, Assistant State Commander of the NDLEA in Bayelsa State, told students at Oruma that there’s a “strong link between drug abuse and cultism”.
“Cultists often rely on drugs to commit violent acts, manipulate peers, and engage in criminal behaviour,” Erepa said. He stressed that “drug abuse affects everyone and condemned cultism as unlawful and destructive”.
For NDDC, the connection is strategic. Drug abuse fuels the violence that destabilises communities. Cultism drains the youth pipeline that should feed farms, tech hubs, and SMEs. Both undercut the Commission’s investments in infrastructure, agriculture, and enterprise.
The sensitisation isn’t just moral. It’s legal. Inspector Iroro Ohwoharhoho of the Nigerian Police, Bayelsa State Command, laid out the consequences: “Cultism was a criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment”.
His warning to students was blunt: “Convictions leave lasting negative records that could ruin future opportunities”. He added, “It is referred to as a secret cult because it is a bad and demonic act, which is why it is conducted in secret.”
The message: cultism isn’t a rite of passage. It’s a criminal record.
That is the message the NDDC is drumming up as part of efforts to curb cultism and drug abuse among youths, through a sensitisation campaign aimed at promoting peace and responsible living among students in Bayelsa State.
The campaign, which was held in all the NDDC mandate States of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, Rivers, with the grand finale in Bayelsa State across four Local Government Areas, beginning from Community Secondary School, Yiba-Ama Community, also known as Oruma in Ogbia Local Government Area, BDGS Yenagoa, in Yenagoa LGA, Tarakiri Community Secondary School, Ayama-Ijaw in Southern Ijaw and Ijaw National Academy in Kolokuma Opokuma Local Government Area, as part of the Commission’s ongoing initiative to educate secondary school students on the dangers of cultism, drug abuse, and other social vices.
The NDDC chose Community Secondary School, Oruma, for the programme, and the reception shows why. Principal Sunny-Obi Julius expressed gratitude to NDDC for choosing the school for the sensitisation programme. He “encouraged students to eschew cultism and drug abuse, reiterating that there is no future in such practices”.
The logic is prevention. By the time NDLEA or the Police meet youths on the streets, options have narrowed. In classrooms, the Commission can reach them before recruitment, before addiction, before the first arrest.
The campaign aligns with NDDC’s pivot toward human capital. The NDDC Managing Director, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, has tied agriculture to “peace and security in the Niger Delta region”. The anti-drug and anti-cultism drive is the other half of that equation. You can fund farms and release N10bn to entrepreneurs through NDCCITMA, but if the youth pipeline is lost to drugs, the investments won’t stick.
Cultism in the Niger Delta has a history: campus confraternities that spilled into communities, militancy that recruited through brotherhoods, and violence that followed oil money. Drug abuse is the accelerant.
NDDC’s campaign is testing whether early, direct engagement can break the cycle. No budget figure has been announced for the programme. The currency here is attention. Police in uniform. NDLEA commanders with data. Principals telling students that the Commission sees them.
Speaking during the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, represented by the Director of the Department of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Dr Goddy Ogedegbe, said the programme was designed to strengthen human capital development and to guide students away from activities that could destroy their future.
Ogbuku urged students to resist peer pressure and avoid involvement in drugs or secret cult groups. He emphasised that such practices cut short dreams, endanger lives, and hold no progressive future for anyone who indulges in them.
He reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to education and human capital development, stressing its determination to build a Niger Delta free from drugs and cultism.
The Managing Director noted that the Commission’s vision extends beyond the construction of roads and bridges to the development of a generation of responsible and credible leaders who will drive the Niger Delta region’s development.
Ogbuku observed that the programme was aimed at combating the rising trends of illicit drug use and youth involvement in cult activities. He urged youths in the region to desist from drug abuse and cultism, describing the menaces as twin evils that can destroy their future.
Delivering a lecture on the link between drug abuse and cultism among students, Assistant State Commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Bayelsa Command, Erepa Godwin, warned that drug abuse often leads to serious health complications, poor academic performance, criminal behaviour, and involvement in cult-related activities and urged students to stay away from illicit substances and focus on their education.
Also speaking, a representative of the Nigeria Police Force, Bayelsa State Command, Inspector Iroro Oworohowo, who enlightened the students on the legal implications of cultism, stressed that cultism remains a criminal offence under Nigerian law and warned that offenders risk arrest and prosecution.
He encouraged the students to remain law-abiding and concentrate on their studies to become worthy ambassadors of Bayelsa State.
Principals of the participating schools thanked the NDDC for the timely initiative and expressed appreciation to the NDDC for selecting their schools for the sensitisation programme. described the initiative as beneficial and urged the students to apply the lessons learned in their daily lives.
The event also featured a special talk by a Psychologist, Blessing Jacob-Timothy, on Cultism, Stress, and Mental Health Among Students,” as well as a presentation of the Peace Ambassador Award and Certificate to the school by the representative of McMatthy Nigeria Limited, Mr Aye Obualla
The sensitisation campaign ended with renewed commitment by students, teachers, and stakeholders to promote peace, reject cultism, and build a safer learning environment.
