The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime(UNODC), Nigeria Country Office, on Monday began a 3-day stakeholders’ engagement on insecurity, crime and drug abuse in Zamfara.

Mr Sulaiman Idris, media aide to Gov. Dauda Lawal, in a statement in Gusau on Monday, said that the workshop was a UN assessment and programming mission to guide it on how to respond to insecurity, drug abuse and other challenges.

He said the UN team, led by Oliver Stolpe, the Country’s Representative of UNODC, would engage with key stakeholders in various sectors during the 3-day period of the programme.

According to the statement, the workshop will provide stakeholders and the visiting UN team with a platform to collectively analyse the scope, manifestations, drivers and trends of insecurity, crime and drug abuse in Zamfara.

“The workshop will further share good practices and approaches from within and beyond Nigeria, in tackling these challenges to develop a joint action plan,” it said.

The statement quoted Gov Lawal as urging the team of resourceful individuals from the UN to demonstrate a collective commitment to addressing the challenges of banditry and other crimes, and their connection with drug abuse.

He further quoted Lawal as saying that he recently visited the UN to solicit its intervention in addressing some of the pressing challenges the state was facing.