A rep from ABL interacting with the students
Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), Ghana’s premier beer producer has taken its campaign against underage drinking to Swedru Senior High and Adeiso Presbyterian SHS.
The company interacted with about 2,100 teenagers from both schools, urging young persons under the age of 18 to stay away from alcohol.
ABL has been embarking on an underage drinking campaign over the past two years and intends to reach about 10,000 persons this year to serve as ambassadors to reduce and stop young persons from consuming alcohol. Last year, the campaign reached over 8000 secondary school students in Accra.
As a subsidiary of SABMiller Plc, ABL’s move is in fulfillment of the Global Beer, Wine and Spirits Producers’ commitment to reduce underage drinking.
Evans, a student at Adeiso Presbyterian Senior High School said “The talk has confirmed my conviction that alcohol consumption, particularly at an early age, will only destroy my brain and my future hopes and aspirations.”
“There are many things that I never knew about alcohol consumption until I had this opportunity to listen to this informative delivery from Accra Brewery Limited,” Kingsley, a student from Swedru Senior High School stated.
The Assemblyman for Adeiso, Eric Kwesi Mensah commended ABL for the initiative, noting that the issue of underage drinking has been a concern for authorities at the Adeiso Presbyterian Senior High School for a while.
Taking the students through an interactive session on the dangers of underage drinking, Cyrus de-Graft Johnson, Corporate Affairs Manager of ABL said the campaign bears testimony that ABL is a responsible and community-oriented company.
“We can’t sit and wait for alcohol abuse by young people to become a national issue before we take steps to prevent it. We are acting now before it becomes a problem,” he stressed.
“We have received the tacit endorsement of the Ghana Education Service and this is a good enough encouragement to push ahead with our campaign,” he said.
By Cephas Larbi
cephrok@yahoo.com