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  • How we did it in 3 months – Gen. Marwa

Imagine what would have been if illicit drugs with a cash value of over N75 billion were to circulate in streets across Nigeria and getting to 15 million people.

Also imagine what would have been without the arrest of over 2,175 suspected drug traffickers and barons in three months, and stopping the injection of over 2 million kilograms of assorted dangerous illicit drugs into an already charged volatile society where drugs, ‘a defeatist cover’, are now seen as a way out.

On top of this, the agency charged with the responsibility of checkmating drug abuse has filed about 2,000 cases in court with 329 convictions while 1,549 cases are pending.

These and many other revelations came to the fore when the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brigadier General Buba Marwa (rtd), paid an advocacy visit to the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in his office in Abuja.

Marwa said at the occasion: “These figures are even less than what could have been on the streets destroying the lives of innocent youths, our women and men”.

Agreeing with the volume of danger and destruction that drugs, if they had permeated the society, would have cost the nation, Mohammed, in his reply, said, “The war against illicit drugs and tackling drug trafficking is one of the most important tasks in our country today.

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“This is because drug trafficking, money laundering by traffickers and the use of illicit drugs are closely linked to the nation’s security, well being of the citizens, the moral fabric of our society and even governance.

“It is common knowledge that drug money can be used to finance insurgency and terrorism. A successful fight against drug trafficking will therefore help to deny or reduce funding for insurgency”.

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The Information Minister continued, “The kind of vicious banditry and kidnapping for ransom that our country has witnessed in recent times cannot be totally separated from illicit drug use and their effects on users who take to crime.

“Drug trafficking proceeds are sometimes also ingested into legitimate businesses, making hard working and honest people look indolent.

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“What about the effect of drug trafficking on the moral fabric of the society. This society rarely questions the source or sources of people’s wealth. That’s why drug traffickers end up becoming role models in the society, with devastating consequences for our young ones.

“Even governance is not spared. Drug traffickers and money launderers contest and win elections into high offices, where they help shape policy.

“Just imagine the damage this can do to governance and indeed to any nation.

“This is why I want to commend Gen. Marwa for raising the bar in the fight against drug cartels and the use of illicit drugs with the new maxim, ‘’offensive action’’

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“Boosting the morale and confidence of staffers; Attracting International support and ‘’offensive action’’ against drug cartels that has led to the arrest of 2,175 drug traffickers, seizure of 2,050,765.33 kilograms of illicit drugs as well as cash and drug seizures worth N75 billion”.

Against this backdrop, the minister assured the NDLEA boss: “The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture will work with you to give maximum publicity to your activities, especially in the area of advocacy.

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“To date, we have launched a number of national campaigns. It will not be a bad idea for the ministry, working with the NDLEA, to launch a national campaign against drug trafficking and use of illicit drugs.

“I will also encourage the NDLEA to work with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), which has set up Integrity Clubs in Secondary Schools nationwide, to reach the young ones with its campaign against drug use”.

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Crisis

In his submission earlier, Marwa had said, “Today, Nigeria is faced with a major drug crisis that is in no small way fuelling most of the security challenges being faced in NE, NW, NC and indeed across the country”.

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The NDLEA Chairman went on: “Recently, through intelligence based operations, we were able to arrest some drug traffickers; one a Nigerien and another a Chadian in Niger State and Taraba State respectively, who supplied illicit drugs to insurgents and bandits

“As much as we’re disrupting their drug supply chain through law enforcement, we also need to work hard on our drug demand reduction through advocacy programmes, which are mostly publicity driven”.

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Saying his visit to the Information Ministry was to leverage on the Minister’s position to drive advocacy programmes at little or no cost because it’s an open secret that NDLEA has, over the years been left behind in terms of funding among other law enforcement agencies including those established years after it, he explained: “For instance, we need to run a weekly 30 minutes network programme on NTA and Radio Nigeria to reach Nigerians on the dangers of drug abuse; we need to reach those at the grassroots with our messages in various Nigerian languages packaged in jingles; we need coverage of our programmes to promote the coming World Drug Day on June 26 and others.

“We don’t have the resources to pay for all of these and this is why we need partnership with the Ministry of Information and its Agencies to be able to reach millions of Nigerians and save them from the drug scourge

“It gladdens my heart to inform the Hon. Minister that despite our constraints, we have, in less than three months in the saddle, been able to seize drugs and cash worth over N75billion, with the arrest of 2,175 drug traffickers and the seizure of 2,050,766.33 kilograms of assorted illicit drugs as well as the filing of about 2,000 drug cases in court with 329 convictions and 1,549 pending cases in court.

“These figures are less than what could have been on the streets destroying the lives of innocent youths, our women and men. With the support of your office and those of your agencies, we’ll be able to save millions of Nigerians from being afflicted with the menace of drug abuse”.

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Marwa appreciated Mohammed for the excellent work the he has been doing and leading agencies under him to promote the good work of the federal government and the country as a whole

Noting that the minister’s competence and versatility on issues of governance and information management have never been in doubt, he attributed this to his track records as the Chief of Staff in Lagos, the first person to occupy such office under Nigeria’s democratic setting; then as National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria and ultimately the All Progressives Congress, a party which for the first time defeated an incumbent government in a democratic election.

“No doubt, the Minister’s current role is central to all key activities of government and the agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, especially with key information dissemination media outlets like the NTA, NAN, FRCN, VON and more under the supervision of the minister”, he said.

“Let me acknowledge that without any prompting from you, these agencies have been of tremendous support since we came on board. We are indeed grateful for that”.

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