Rev. Fr. Jack Yali, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kwata Guest House, a rehabilitation home in Jos, has
advised the government to regulate the operations of rehabilitation centres in the country.
Yali gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Jos.
He said that the regulation would enable the government to have data of such facilities.
He also expressed the need to create a special agency which would monitor and serve as a check on the operations of such facilities
“There should be an agency set up by government to regulate the operations of rehabilitation centres in the country.
“It is very important to regulate their operations because it will enable government to monitor and know the programmes and modus operandi of such facilities.
“For instance, it is very wrong for operators of such facilities to beat, hit or force their patients to do certain things. That’s archaic.
“The modern way of treating addicts is to show them love, affection and kindness,” he said.
He said adequate sensitization by an established agency would address the problem.
Yali also called on government and individuals to create more rehabilitation centres in the country to address the rising spate of drug addiction, particularly among youths in the country.
He also called for training and retraining of social workers, saying this would ensure proper service delivery that would lead to good outcome.
“To curb the rising spate of drug addiction, alcoholism and other forms of addictions among youths, there is need for government to create and support individuals to set up more rehabilitation centres,” he said.
Yali, who said his organization had been in existence for over five years, added that he had treated many people who suffered various forms of addictions and had returned to the society as better persons.
He explained that being a priest, he combined his expertise and prayers in treating his patients and called on others to do likewise.
He thanked the Catholic Church for supporting the organization to be doing the good works it had been doing over the years and promised to continue in spite of some of the challenges it was currently facing. (NAN)
