The United Kingdom has said it is collaborating with Nigeria in the fight against drug and trafficking in persons.
The UK Minister for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Vicky Ford, stated this during her visit to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Murtala Muhammad International Airport Command in Lagos.
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Ford inspected the Nigerian Joint Border Task Force (JBTF), a joint venture between Nigeria and the UK to tackle the menace of drug and human trafficking.
She observed that the UK-Nigerian security partnerships through the JBTF had yielded results in terms of building the capacity of officers and providing them the needed equipment to tackle drug trafficking and other organised crimes.
“The UK and the Nigerian Joint Border Task Force (JBTF) are working together to tackle drugs and people trafficking. We have had incredibly sad stories of young people who are trafficked but what I have seen here, especially from the staff, is that they are really committed in trying to tackle this scourge. In the anti-drugs war, just last week, they got 460kg of tramadol and you can imagine the impact this drug will have in young people’s lives,”she said.
“We have seen the very good facilities here and the videos that are recorded when people are interviewed either because they have been victims or perpetrators of trafficking or drug running. All of the evidence would be collected on camera, so that it can be used and their human rights would be respected.
“I have also seen that there is a facility here for people who have been arrested and are awaiting trial and it is fully compliant with human rights legislation. With this joint venture between the UK and Nigeria, we can both say that we know that the people who are being held here have their human rights respected as they await their trial and that is very important.”
The NDLEA Commander, MMIA, Usman Ali, said the intervention of the UK government had helped the command, disclosing that just last week 460 kilograms of drugs were seized.
He said in 2021 alone, over three tons of different illicit drugs were seized at the airport, noting that the trend of illicit drug trafficking has been on the increase.
Ali, however, noted that the intervention of the UK Government with the setting up of the JBTF had helped the NDLEA to combat the menace of drug trafficking.
He said, “Just last week, we seized about 460 kilograms of Tramadol and last year alone, over 3,107 kg of drugs were seized in this airport.
“Before they came, it was not easy. But as you can see, even the facilities in terms of capacity, equipment, they have supported us. Now, we make statements, do interviews under camera and that has helped us a lot especially in court. Issues of human rights, trial within trial have been eliminated because everything is done under camera. There is no complaint about abuse of human rights because everything is being recorded.”
