The Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Major-General Buba Marwa (rtd), on Sunday, said the agency has confiscated N60bn worth of hard drugs in the last two months of its operation.
Marwa disclosed this in Offa, Kwara State during the 3rd Annual Colloquium of Galaxy Clique.
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The programme was titled: “Hard Drug Abuse and Insecurity: A Siamese Twin”.
According to him, drug abuse and trafficking were becoming an alarming national security challenge in Nigeria.
He said available intelligence has established a clear nexus between drug abuse and terrorism (Boko Haram) in the North East and other security challenges across the country.
He added that over the years, cannabis had been the only locally produced illicit drug in Nigeria.
“But this has changed with the establishment of clandestine laboratories in several parts of the South-East and Lagos.
“Within the past two months, the NDLEA has seized drugs worth N60bn.
“Cannabis sativa is also known as hemp, Igbo, grass, weed, ganja and wee-wee, among others.
“This is followed by codeine (cough syrup), tramadol, Rohypnol, cocaine, heroin, pentazocine injection, methamphetamine, valium 5 and 10.
“The statistical analysis of these drug-dependent persons shows they were of age 15 to 64 years bracket”, he noted.
The former Lagos State Governor said since the agency began operation in 1990, over 9.5 million kilogrammes of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances have been seized with over 27,000 drug traffickers convicted.
He said: “Economic consequences of the cultivation, processing or manufacturing, packaging, smuggling, retailing and peddling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs are disastrous.
“It causes destruction of national economies, the frustration of monetary and fiscal controls and inflation due to laundering of proceeds of drugs,” he added.
Represented by the Kwara State Commandant of the agency, Babayeju Kayode, Marwa further noted that a major implication of the vast financial assets from the drug trade is its influence on political decisions which has led to the overthrow of legitimate governments and the creation of ‘Narco Democracy’.
The NDLEA chief cautioned the citizens against the use of sedatives and maintained that it could endanger their well being.
