Ribadu To Chair LEADERSHIP/NDLEA Conference On Drug Abuse

The National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has confirmed his participation as chairman of the occasion at the joint LEADERSHIP/NDLEA Conference on Drug Abuse, Crime, Insecurity and National Development.

The event with the theme, ‘Drug Abuse, Crime, Insecurity and National Development,’ billed to hold on August 3, 2023 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, is a rapid response to the existential scourge of the proliferation of illicit drugs.

A statement by the management of LEADERSHIP Group Ltd, signed by its editor-in-chief/senior vice chairman, Mr Azu Ishiekwene, stated that the media group, in collaboration with the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), “is hosting the Conference to proffer solutions to the surge in a world where new technology and new trafficking and distribution methods have continued to evolve.”

Ishiekwene said the conference aims to discuss the future of the drug war with regard to reviewing Nigeria’s laws on possession, use and punishment, rehabilitation and reintegration of victims.

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“As succinctly revealed by the United Nations drugs use survey of 2017, based on a population projection of 98 million Nigerians, 14.3 million Nigerians are involved in the use of illicit and psychotropic drugs.

“These figures have multiplied exponentially not only based on population growth and high rates of socio-economic challenges but also the increase in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other heinous crimes. This is scary and beckons urgently to all stakeholders in the Nigerian Project and well-meaning individuals and corporates to intervene immediately,” the statement added.

Ribadu, an anti-corruption czar and first executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), will deliver the opening remark at the conference in his capacity as chairman of the occasion.

The statement also noted that the newly appointed NSA, the first without military background since the return to democratic governance in 1999, will add impetus to conversations at the conference following his pragmatic approach to intelligence gathering and crime-fighting while in the EFCC which earned him global recognition and awards.

It further noted that driven by the urgent need to de-escalate the menace of drug abuse vis-à-vis violent crimes, banditry, terrorism and the debilitating effect on national development, the conference, the joint initiative by LEADERSHIP and NDLEA also intends to unveil the new methods of production, trafficking and distribution of these drugs, and to interrogate the counter efforts of frontline agencies in the drug war, while reiterating the call for society’s involvement.

Focal persons for the conference, according to the statement, are drawn from the presidency, National Assembly, the Armed Forces, state governments, the MDAs, traditional council, diplomatic community, international organisations, the organised private sector, the academia, NGOs, FBOs, the informal sector operators, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, UNODC, the African Union Secretariat and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), among others.