Chairman/chief executive officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (retd) said the agency has arrested 31,675 drug offenders, prosecuted and convicted 5, 147 in the last 29 months.
The agency chairman also said over 6.3million kilograms of assorted drugs were seized within the same period.
Marwa stated this in Abuja yesterday at a joint press briefing with the country representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mr Oliver Stolpe, to flag off weeklong activities marking the 2023 World Drug Day, which is an annual event.
According to the NDLEA boss, “This year’s theme, ‘People First: Stop Stigma and Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention’, is in furtherance of the whole-of-society approach to taming the drug scourge. This theme is especially pertinent to the Nigerian situation at the moment. In the past two and half years, we have strengthened our law enforcement efforts to cut down on the supply of drugs in society.
“In 29 months, we have arrested 31, 675 drug offenders, including 35 barons; successfully prosecuted and got convicted 5,147 of them, and over 11,000 other cases still pending in court, while 23,725 drug users had been counselled and rehabilitated, majority of them through brief interventions.
“At least 6.3 million kilograms of various illicit substances have been recovered in response to our efforts to sweep up drugs and shut down the distribution channels. We have destroyed 852.142 hectares of cannabis farms and dismantled three clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. I can assure you that even as we speak, NDLEA agents are busy with interdiction activities somewhere.”
He charged the society to drop the stigmatization that discourages drug users from seeking treatment, a development that has serious socio-economic repercussions for individuals and their families.
In his remarks, Stolpe emphasized the “benefits of international cooperation in criminal justice matters with a specific target of dismantling trafficking networks involved in this terrible trade,” adding that “long overdue is the need to make sure that the public and primary health care providers are better prepared to take basic drug counseling needs, knowing how to deal with people suffering from drug use disorders.”
He commended NDLEA for the successes recorded so far in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking in the country.
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