National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has seized illicit substances worth more than N60 billion in the last two months.
The agency’s chairman, Brigadier-General Buba Marwa (rtd), disclosed this on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, at a colloquium tagged: “Walk Away from Drugs.” The programme was organised by Ekiti State Ministry of Justice.
Marwa remarked: “In Nigeria today, there is no challenge that is more worrisome than drug abuse. For instance, insurgency, kidnapping and banditry are seen as peculiar to certain parts of the country, but drug abuse has no boundary or respect for ethnicity or religion.
“The menace is so worrisome that within the last two months, more than N60 billion worth of illicit drugs have been seized and perpetrators arrested and prosecuted.
“If access to drugs is prevented, criminality can be reduced by 50 per cent.”
He called for concerted efforts by stakeholders to campaign against the use of illicit drugs. The agency boss suggested that parents should from now include drug certificate as part of criteria to give their daughters and sons hands in marriage.
“This will be the beginning in reducing drug usage and its prevailing economic effects on the nation,” he said.
Opening the event, Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, restated the commitment of his administration to reduce drug abuse. Fayemi, represented by his deputy, Chief Bisi Egbeyemi, urged participants to take the deliberation seriously and to evolve implementable plans to rid the society of the menace.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wale Fapounda, said the programme was organised because of alarming cases of drugs-induced criminality in the society.
“In most cases prosecuted by the ministry, investigations showed crime perpetrators were under the influence of drugs,” he said.
In attendance at the programme were traditional rulers, Ekiti State Commandant of the NDLEA, Mr Gaura Shedow, representatives of road transport workers, market women and youths, among others.
