Popular Nigerian actresses, Ini Edo and Dakore-Egbuson Akande took a bold step to share their personal drug abuse battles at Drug Convos on the 26th of June.
The virtual event ‘Drug Convos’ was held by MTN Foundation in partnership with Businessday, MTV Base and Nigerian Entertainment Today (Netng) in commemoration of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking marked annually.
At the occasion, the Nollywood actresses addressed the audience with their struggles with drugs. When asked about the role of the family in curbing the use of substance abuse among youths, Dakore Egbuson-Akande, talked about her encounter with Drug traffickers when she was an undergraduate. She said
She went on to say that parents play a huge role in the way their children make decisions about drugs and other harmful substances.
‘Due to upbringing and the discipline my parents had instilled in me, I didn’t have to run home to ask my parents what to say to the guy. I just knew that omo dat one no go happen!”
She went on to advice Nigerian parents to not copy how their parents took care of them but to gain experience from modern-day situations and try to adopt having open relationships with their children.
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Actress Ini Edo also had some things to say about Substance Abuse, she said;
“they may be thinking, ‘oh, I need to be high to perform which is probably what they see on TV and on social media but they don’t get to see the adverse effect of abusing drugs and how damaging it can be on young people.”
Ini Edo talked about how the media sometimes glorified the use of drugs and it is on the movie industry to show how bad drugs can be to youths. She explained that if a producer has a storyline based on the use of drugs, they also show the adverse effects of drugs on peoples lifestyles.
Ini Edo also shared her experience with drugs at a party. She says
“I went to a party some time ago where Cannabis was being served on trays like food and young people not older than 25 were consuming it like it was normaly
The commentator of the program concluded with the fact that he was delighted by what he heard the actresses say because they negated the notions that says ‘as an entertainer you need some form drugs to spice up your popularity.’
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