By EMAMEH GABRIEL |
Senate president, Ahmed Lawan, has said there are powerful forces operating trans border drug cartel who are also involved in arms supply to bandits.
Lawan disclosed this yesterday when the chairman and chief executive officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig.
Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) paid an official visit to his office at the National Assembly.
He said there was no way bandits could have had access to sophisticated weapons in their disposal today without the help of drug barons operating within the Nigerian borders, adding that Nigeria has become an international transit route for drug barons.
He said the NDLEA does not only need to be restructured to enable it combat illicit drug trafficking that is currently fueling crisis in some parts of the country but also need to be funded.
Lawan said: “This agency needs restructuring. Now that you (Marwa) have taken over, you should go and restructure the entire agency, not piecemeal touches, because we need to get it right.
“Nigeria as a country is one way or the other a transit routes for drugs. Drug peddlers transport their drugs, cannabis, heroin and possible even cocaine.
“This has to stop, because the process of such activities fund terrorism and banditry. You wonder how the bandits have RPGs and the massive arms that they have. Definitely these are acquisitions procured by the barons not the bandits themselves.” Lawan called on other paramilitary bodies to work closely to stem the tide.
