On the afternoon of Monday, 21 September 2026, the first promoters of The Oteji Foundation for Substance Abuse Prevention and Awareness met in Owerri. It opened with a prayer and closed with one, and in the hour and a quarter between, a vision that had lived mostly in one person's head became a shared plan.
Where this began
Our founder, Oteji Ezra Agwu, Esq., is a criminal lawyer. Over the years, her work has taken her into prisons again and again, and she kept meeting the same person: a young man or woman serving time for something they did while high or drunk. Not hardened criminals. Young people whose lives turned on a substance they never should have touched.
The foundation was created on 5 August 2026 and is a registered non-governmental organisation with six trustees. Its purpose is simple to say and hard to do: bring down the rate of substance abuse through determined awareness work that starts at the grassroots, so that our youths, families and communities are healthier and safer.
What we're up against
The substances doing the most damage in our communities are not exotic. Methamphetamine, known locally as mkpurummiri, cannabis, cigarettes and alcohol. They are cheap, they are everywhere, and they are taking young people from us.
What we set out to do
The promoters agreed on four objectives:
How we'll work
A few principles came out of the meeting that will shape everything that follows.
We work as a family. Anyone given a task on behalf of the foundation will be supported to carry it out. Everyone is expected to bring ideas, to visit the office, and to answer when called on.
We start with respect. Before any campaign, the foundation will pay courtesy visits to the people and institutions whose partnership matters most: the police, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the Civil Defence Corps, church leaders, the Bar, the teachers' union, government agencies, and schools from primary through university.
We go to where young people are. School visits, in smaller groups so the message actually lands, and awareness in markets, churches and community gatherings. One idea that stuck: letting students lead, with music and bands, taking the message around themselves.
Committees will be formed once the courtesy visits are done, with clear responsibilities that everyone can see.
Mark the date
The formal inauguration of the foundation takes place on Saturday 14 November 2026 at Rockview Hotels, Owerri, at 11:00AM prompt. Around three hundred guests are expected. If you would like to be there, or to support the work, call 0903 427 6971 or message us on WhatsApp at 0708 571 1538.
The meeting ended the way it started, with thanks and prayer. Every person in the room promised to carry the work forward. This is where the story begins.
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