The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has warned that the rate of illicit substances and hard drugs abuse in Akwa Ibom state has become alarmingly high.
The state Commander of the agency, Obot Bassey disclosed this during the 2025 Feast of Barracuda meeting by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) – Pyrates Confraternity, Atlantic Shores Deck, in Eket on Monday.
Bassey, who spoke on the theme; “High Cost of Getting High: Unmasking the Real Price of Drug Abuse” and represented by Mr Ojukwu Obidi, the area commander, Eket Area Command noted that “the rate of drug abuse is very high,” in Akwa Ibom State.
She explained that drug abuse was alarming in the state because the people of the state have normalised drug abuse, saying “they see it as nothing, they see it as a way of promoting the economy and sustaining themselves.”
Bassey lamented that young adults take concoction of Indian hemp, warning that the mixture of marijuana and alcohol contributed largely to cases of people with mental health challenges.
“If you go to social gatherings in Akwa Ibom, hardly will you not see young adult taking ‘combine’, and you know that their genetics make up are different, which this lead many of them to mental health challenges,” she said.
The State Commander also disclosed that under her watch, the NDLEA seized over 804 kg of hard drugs in 2025 alone and convicted 38 persons who were currently serving their sentences.
“This year alone, we have arrested 312 suspects in Akwa Ibom. If you look at the people we have arrested already, the cost to their families and communities are very high,” she stated.
Noting the consequences of drug abuse, she explained that “if you look at our society today, you will find out that violent crimes are increasing like kidnapping, rape, armed robbery due to drug abuse.”
Bassey appealed to the association to assist the agency in logistics to carry out their mandate effectively, adding that “the agency has been carrying out sensitisation programme every week to disabuse the mind of people on drug abuse in the state” while lamenting that the country was losing young people to drugs.
She thanked the association for its anti-drug advocacies, and for recognising the NDLEA in the fight against the national crises facing the country.
Responding, the President of NAS, Pyrates Confraternity Atlantic Shores Deck, Eket, Cap’n Idongesit Ifon, assured of the commitment of the association in the fight and warned that any member caught involved in drug abuse would be expelled.
“My member do not get involved in drugs, anyone that is caught, would be expelled from the association,” Ifon, assured.
He noted that “the country and communities were witnessing the corrosive effects of drug abuse from shattered lives and broken families to rising crimes, poor mental health and weakened institutions.”
Ifon stressed that drug indulgence is a growing menace that demands collective awareness and deliberate, strategic intervention.
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