The Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics has lauded the leadership of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for its steadfast fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking.
Recognising the efforts of the NDLEA, the Committee also assured the commission of its preparedness and commitment to partner and support in order to reduce drug usage in Nigeria.
This was made known in a statement released by NDLEA’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi today.
According to the statement, the assurance was given after the Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) informed the Senate Committee in Abuja yesterday about the activities, challenges and successes of the agency in the last 34 months.
“Families, communities, young people and old men and women and indeed the very fabric of our society is daily being destroyed by drug abuse. The scourge is at the basis of the security challenges facing not only Nigeria but other nations and as such, no effort must be spared in addressing the problem,” the NDLEA boss said.
Commenting on the successes recorded as regards drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction, he said: “The agency re-ignited its intelligence-based enforcement capabilities, focusing on drug barons and cartels, with a view to cutting off supplies and taking illicit drugs away from our streets. This is yielding positive results with the arrest of 36,096 drug traffickers, among them 40 barons, between January 2021 and September 2023. The agency has recorded seizures of 6,668 tons of drugs, worth over N635 billion.
“About 957.319 hectares of cannabis farms have been destroyed across 12 states within the period under review, while we successfully prosecuted and got convictions in 6,043 cases. Presently, there are 11,166 pending cases in Federal High Court across the country. And between January 2021 and September 2023, over 27,432 drug-dependent individuals have been counselled and discharged from our counselling and treatment facilities across the country.”
Gen. Marwa equally noted the factors that are downplaying the efforts of the agency, which include inadequate funding, dearth of standard rehabilitation centres, lack of operational boats and vehicles.
He also highlighted forensic laboratories and poor salary structure for personnel among others.
The NDLEA stressed the role of the tiers of government (the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature) in the achievements recorded thus far.
“We are hopeful that we will get even more impactful support from the 10th Senate. We look forward to your assistance in taking care of some Gordian knots that can only be solved by legislative means.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo in his remarks said: “I want to assure you that the newly inaugurated members of the committee are fully committed to working with the NDLEA.
“All the members have assured that they would contribute and do their best in working to eradicate the use of illicit drugs and narcotics in Nigeria. We will consider the possibility of having an emergency summit on drugs because of the seriousness of the issue.”
The Vice Chairman of the Committee, Senator Osita Ngwu also gave his words saying; “We are so glad that the NDLEA is working and we are seeing the results. Over 6000 tons of drugs confiscated is not a joke. I use this medium to encourage you, and whatever support you need from our end, we will give.
“We are all passionate about reducing drug demand, if we don’t deal with it now, it will destroy us. Whatever support we can give we will provide for you to continue this fight, so that we can take drugs off our streets and make our youth useful. We are all going to work together by all means to make sure that all we discussed here will be put in process.”
The other members of the committee present spoke in unison and concurred. Consequently, they promised to hasten the amendment of the NDLEA Act earlier passed by the 9th Senate, but stalled, thus it’s being addressed by the 10th Senate.
