Chairman/chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd) has harped on the imperative of an alternative development strategy to curtail illicit drug production, trafficking and protection of the environment from exploitation by drug cartels.
Marwa stated this while highlighting the need for concerted and collaborative efforts in curbing illicit drug trafficking at an NDLEA special purpose committee meeting on alternative development project in Nigeria.
The same position was canvassed by other experts from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) office in Vienna, Austria and Nigeria as well as other stakeholders across the country who spoke at the meeting.
He said; “Without doubt, illicit drug cultivation and production have contributed significantly, not only in threatening the national and global security but also in modifying the natural ecosystem with severe consequences evidenced in environmental degradation which has impacted negatively on the climate and human health.”
Spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, said while spotlighting the record of achievements of the agency as evidenced in huge seizures of assorted illicit drugs, destruction of large hectares of cannabis plantations, dismantling of clandestine laboratories, arrest and prosecution of high profile suspects and confiscation of valuable assets, Marwa emphasised on the need to provide sustainable alternative means of livelihood for illicit drug traffickers.
He said, “Now that they are fast losing ground in the illicit drug business as a result of heavy clamp down on them, they may go into other crimes. We therefore need to provide sustainable alternative means of engaging them so that we do not recycle illicit drug dealers in the world of crime.”
The NDLEA boss who was represented by his special adviser on National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP), Otunba Lanre Ipinmisho, identified crop substitution as well as education as vital tools that will be employed by the agency towards achieving the objectives of the Alternative Development programme.
In his remarks, the UNODC’s consultant on Alternative/Sustainable Livelihoods Team in Vienna, Austria, Dr. Jorrit Kamminga, commended NDLEA as one of the pioneer anti-narcotics agencies that are including Alternative Development in their initiatives to fight illicit drug trafficking.
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