The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has said it arrested 85, 058 persons for drugs and drug-related offences, prosecuted and secured convictions in 16, 937 cases in the last 10 years.
The Chairman of the agency Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah (Rtd), said this on Thursday in Abuja at a news conference flagging off activities marking the 2019 International Day against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking, with a grand finale coming on the June 26 in Abuja.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Barrister Femi Oloruntoba, the NDLEA boss said that the agency also seized a total of 56, 745, 705, 555 kg of drugs within this same period.
According to him, this year’s event themed, “Health for Justice; Justice for Health” is an opportunity to answer questions about the situation of Nigeria in global drug chain and what the government and other stakeholders are doing to address the scourge and its consequences.
“Nigeria is a signatory to all the three International Conventions aimed at addressing the drug problem. The country has also domesticated the conventions and has put in place institutional framework to address the problem of drug abuse and illicit trafficking,” he said.
The NDLEA boss said the drug demand reduction programme of the agency anchored on anti-drug sensitization, treatment and rehabilitation recorded many being rescued from the menace of drug abuse and properties of drug traffickers have been seized and forfeited to the Federal Government in accordance with the Enabling Act.
He lamented that “Last year’s prevalence of any drug use in Nigeria is estimated at 14.4 per cent or 14.3 million people aged between 15 and 64 years. The extent of drug use in Nigeria is comparatively high when compared with the 2016 global annual prevalence of any drug use of 5.6 percent among adult population” as contained in the highlight of the February 2019 National Drug Use Survey conducted by the UNODC and funded by European Union.”
He said it is in realization of the need to do more that the NDLEA changed its tactics and methods of celebrating the 26th of June Day, and that rather than just hosting a grand finale where all goodwill messages are given, the agency this year will carry out an all-inclusive education and sensitization programmes in Abuja and at lower scale in the state commands across the country.
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