Substance abuse among street children: implication for social workers in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper explores substance abuse among street children: implications for social worker in Nigeria. Understanding substance abuse as a graving worrisome public health issue is very germane for all social workers’ targetted intervention around the world including sub-Sahara Africa countries. Substance abuse seems to be one of the strenuous problems to detect by social workers especially among the vulnerable street children since they are often neglected and habitually underrepresented in public health research. The phenomenon of street children and their vulnerability to substance abuse represent a wakeup call for the noble role of social workers in Nigeria. To further extrapolate this issue, application of the three social workers’ methods and techniques- social case work, social group work and community welfare organisations were critically reviewed and a logical conclusion was drawn that combating the menace of substance abuse among the vulnerable young population require services like but not limited to identification and assessment services, direct treatment/therapeutic services, outreach/education and research in order to have a safe and healthy society with zero tolerance for substance abuse specifically among street children in Nigeria.