The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said that it has arrested not less than 2000 suspects in the last three months.
The Chairman of the agency, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, added that over 300 convictions have been secured and his agency has seized illicit drugs worth N75 billion within the period under review.
He said this on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at Radio House in Abuja, the Nigeria capital.
Marwa lamented that drug abuse has assumed an alarming proportion in Nigeria, noting that there were about 15 million drug users between the age bracket 15 and 6-25 percent of them were females.
He added that the operatives of the NDLEA two traffickers from the Niger Republic and Chad, who later confessed to supplying illicit drugs to bandits.
The NDLEA then sought for the collaboration of the Information Ministry and its agencies to launch a nationwide public sensitization on drug demand reduction drive, through advocacy programmes on the media so as to reduce the abuse in the country.
On his part, the minister gave an assurance that his ministry would collaborate with the NDLEA to launch a national campaign against drug trafficking and illicit use of drugs in the country.
“The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture will work with you to give maximum publicity to your activities, especially in the area of advocacy,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Segun Adeyemi.
Mohammed added, “To date, we have launched a number of national campaigns. It will not be a bad idea for the ministry, working with the NDLEA, to launch a national campaign against drug trafficking and the use of illicit drugs.
“I will also encourage the NDLEA to work with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which has set up Integrity Clubs in secondary schools nationwide, to reach the young ones with its campaign against drug use.”
According to him, the war against illicit drugs and tackling drug trafficking is one of the most important tasks in Nigeria, considering that drug trafficking, money laundering by traffickers, and the use of illicit drugs are closely linked to the nation’s security, the well-being of the citizens, the moral fabric of the society, and even governance.
“It is common knowledge that drug money can be used to finance insurgency and terrorism. A successful fight against drug trafficking will, therefore, help to deny or reduce funding for insurgency.
“The kind of vicious banditry and kidnapping for ransom that our country has witnessed in recent times cannot be totally separated from illicit drug use and their effects on users who take to crime,” said the minister.
He commended the NDLEA Chairman for recording impressive achievements in less than three months of his appointment, particularly in restoring the visibility of the agency for local and international partnerships.
