Anti-drug War: Global, Local Partners Rally Support for NDLEA’s Alternative Development Project
In an effort to combat the scourge of illicit drug trafficking across the globe, international partners and local stakeholders have expressed their preparedness to support the Alternative Development Project (ADP) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The partners declared their readiness to the initiative aimed at encouraging illicit drug producers and dealers to engage in lawful and productive business opportunities.
According to the Director, Media and Advocacy of NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi in a statement issued on Friday, they made the commitments in their remarks during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on “Building a Support Network for the Alternative Development Project in Nigeria”, organised by the Alternative Development unit of NDLEA at the Agency’s National Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, August 28.
The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa in his address explained the decision to embrace the ADP initiative.
His words: “In Nigeria, the Alternative Development Project will focus on reducing the vulnerabilities of ignorance, poverty, hunger, unemployment and underdevelopment that push people into illicit economies, particularly illicit drug cultivation.
“Aside from its link to transnational organised crime, illicit drug cultivation fuels national organised crime that causes agricultural states to abandon food crop cultivation for cannabis plantations in some communities in Southwest Nigeria. We intend to reduce these vulnerabilities both in urban centres and rural areas through the provision of functional mechanisms and facilities for sensitisation, skills acquisition, empowerment and positive engagements for sustainable livelihoods.
“As a diversified enterprise tailored to meet various needs and interests of the people, the Alternative Development Project in Nigeria will focus on agricultural and community development, research and basic infrastructure, and industrial and commercial engagements.
“We will begin with agricultural development through the crop substitution project. We will also focus on advocacy and education programmes and set up mechanisms to monitor and evaluate project implementations, progress, impacts and challenges.”
Gen. Marwa lauded the Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development in Berlin, Germany for providing a fully funded Alternative Development study visit opportunity to Thailand for some NDLEA officers.
He also applauded the contributions of the immediate past Country Representative of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria, Mr. Oliver Stolpe; Chief, Drugs, Laboratory and Scientific Services Branch of UNODC, Vienna, Dr. Justice Tettey; Ashnik Alternative Development Initiative, an NGO and other stakeholders who assisted in developing the framework for the birth of the Alternative Development unit of the Agency.
The NDLEA boss called for a more robust global support to ensure the success of the project.
On his part, Dr. Tettey commended the anti-narcotic agency for blazing the trail in Alternative Development initiative in Africa.
He identified four critical elements needed for the success of the project as: “people- centred and responsive approach where the aspirations of the people, inclusion and local ownership of AD programmes will ensure meaningful participation of youths, women and the locals in the project design and implementation; value added production chain and access to market which involves research-aided identification of high-yielding marketable crops in harmony with the local environment and equally satisfy local and international markets.”
Tettey noted that environmental considerations must be paramount in all efforts around Alternative Development to ensure sustainability and protection of the ecosystem – and pledged UNODC support to ensure a successful implementation.
The Officer-in-Charge, UNODC Country Office, Nigeria, Mr. Danilo Campisi stated that 8,900 hectares of cannabis farmland being cultivated in six (6) states in Nigeria would have been used for production of licit crops.
Mr. Campisi condemned the recruitment of young men who are desperate for livelihood in the communities by drug barons, who exploit their vulnerabilities.
Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity Enhancement, Dr. Kingsley Uzoma commended the NDLEA boss for the laudable initiative.
Mr. Uzoma emphasised that the Alternative Development project is in line with President Tinubu’s commitment to addressing issues of unemployment, youth and women empowerment by providing tools and resources needed to engage in productive licit farming activities in order to prevent the vulnerable from engaging in unlawful activities.
Ms. Ana Medeiros, who represented acting Chief of Mission, United Nations International Organisation on Migrants; Mr. Thierry Rostan, Global Coordinator, Alternative Development/ Sustainable Livelihood Team, Vienna, Austria; Professor Bala Shehu of the Ashnik Alternative Development Initiative also spoke at the workshop.
Others are Dr. Jonah Kolo, the Coordinator of the AD project and Dr. Martin Agwogie, President , International Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals(ISSUP), Nigeria, to mention a few.
