Participatory Communication as a Viable Tool for Communicating the Negative Impacts of Drug Abuse in Lafia Local Government of Nasarawa State

Abstract

The Nigerian nation has been faced by avalanches of social issues over the years. Some of these social menace includes drug abuse and trafficking. By extension, the aforementioned problems have in the recent years fuelled other problems like abnormal and criminal behaviours such as armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism and formation of local gangs and cultist groups, which have become a threat to a healthy and peaceful society. Thus, the need to solve the problem of drug abuse and trafficking has been one of the major concerns of the Nigerian nation in the recent times. Hence, many agencies including Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency among others have been established to control the issues of drug abuse and trafficking across the country. The media agencies such as radio, television and newspapers have equally been used as attempts to address the problems. However, in face of all these means, the problem of drug abuse and trafficking seems to be on the increase across the country. Many studies have argued that participatory communication has the potential to mitigate different forms of social issues. Hence, this work, through the use of evaluative approach of the qualitative methodology, is undertaken to interrogate the potential of participatory communication in addressing the issues of drug abuse and its related consequences upon the youths of Lafia Local Government Area, Nassarawa State. Among other things, the findings have revealed that drug abuse and its related consequences have serious negative impacts on the youths of Lafia Local Government Area of Nassarawa State, and participatory communication is a viable approach that can be used to mitigate the problems. Therefore, valuable recommendations were made accordingly.