Over 10 Million Nigerians Abuse Drugs- NDLEA

• Over 10 Million Nigerians Abuse Drugs- NDLEA
• The agency’s chairman revealed that the Government is working towards the establishment of more rehabilitation centers in the country

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has raised its concerns over the amount of Nigerians that consume illicit drugs in the country.

The Chairman, NDLEA, Brig. General Mohammed Marwa (retd), said that 10.6 million Nigerians consume Cannabis sativa and some other illicit drugs, adding that the number of drug abusers in the country is the highest in any part of the world.

Marwa revealed this at the 40th Olumide Memorial Lecture on “Dangers of Illicit Substances to National Development’’, in Abuja on Thursday. He further revealed that the number of abusers in the country are more than the total population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Portugal.

He said: “ What is worse, our country’s drug use prevalence of 14.4 per cent is one of the highest in the world compared to the global average of 5.6 per cent, and there is a connection between illicit drugs and crime and insecurity.

“The camps of insurgents and bandits cleared by troops are always littered with illicit drugs, ranging from cannabis to pharmaceutical opioids and other controlled drugs like pentazocine. Rescued hostages testified how the abductors used them.

“We will also remember that one of the fugitives recaptured by NDLEA operatives after escaping from the Kuje Correctional facility was caught with rolls of cannabis, just three days after the jailbreak.

”These instances proved that there is a connection between the abuse of psychoactive drugs and criminal actions. Illicit drugs are catalysts to crime and have been one of the contributing factors to Nigeria’s unending insecurity.”

The Chairman however revealed that the Federal Government is currently devising means to curb the menace bedeviling the nation.

He said: “We have located and dismantled two clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Lagos and Anambra states. Our offensive against cannabis continues unabated. We seized 2, 139. 55 kilogrammes of cocaine in Ikorodu.

“Similarly, we have arrested over 19, 000 traffickers with over 3,000 sentenced to jail within 20 months. We equally seized over 5.4 million kilograms of illicit substances and destroyed over 714 hectares of cannabis farms across six States.

Marwa also made reference to the 24/7 drug abuse call center commissioned earlier in the year as part of the Government’s efforts towards curbing drug abuse. He therefore stressed that they are “working on increasing the rehabilitation centres in the country” and “training lots of stakeholders on Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Care (DPTC).”