The chairman/chief executive officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-Gen Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd) has harped on the imperative of an alternative development strategy to curtail illicit drug production, and trafficking and protect 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 the Alternative Development Project in Nigeria held at the national headquarters of the agency in Abuja.
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, a statement by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi has 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,” Marwa declared.
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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 the agency will employ towards achieving the objectives of the programme.
