Mohamed Buba Marwa, chairman/chief executive, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said Nigeria is prepared to go after the assets of drug barons and traffickers in any part of the country.
Marwa said this during his presentation at the ongoing third committee session of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York, US.
His words were contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Femi Babafemi, director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA.
“Nigeria will remain undaunted in adopting dynamic strategies to counter new approaches adopted by organised criminals, in order to make drug trafficking unattractive while ensuring forfeiture of the criminally derived assets, a tested and powerful deterrent to the proliferation of drug crimes and criminalities,” Marwa was quoted as saying.
The NDLEA boss, while demonstrating Nigeria’s high commitment to the protection of public health and safety, said the government has launched a War Against Drug Abuse campaign which will enable Nigerians to take full ownership of the fight against the menace of illicit drugs.
He said, “More so, Nigeria’s Drug Control efforts have received a tremendous thrust with unprecedented stakeholders involvement; we have engaged civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, academia and governments at all levels, public enlightenment is also being strengthened with remarkable media visibility, even as the youths are regularly sensitised on social media platforms on the ugly consequences of illicit drugs and related criminalities.
“Our consistent targeting of Drug Trafficking Organisations has resulted in the arrest of 8, 634 suspected drug traffickers and the seizure of over 100 billion naira in cash and drugs within the first eight months of this year. Perpetrators will go through the Criminal Justice system, with their fundamental human rights being strictly upheld.”
The statement said the NDLEA boss expressed appreciation to all “international partners who, in the spirit of shared responsibility, deserve to be appreciated for their great support through technical assistance, information and intelligence sharing, capacity building and training specifically in the area of countering the use of information and communication technology for criminal purposes, which has given a great boost to our counter-narcotic strategies.”
“Gen. Marwa said Nigeria is happy to report that the EU funded, UNODC sponsored Cannabis Cultivation Survey is expected to bring to the fore, the full extent of cannabis cultivation in Nigeria, and make it easier to target measures to contain this perennial menace.
“He told the global gathering that Appropriate strategies have also been adopted to address the issue of stigmatisation of people who use drugs, including meeting the needs of vulnerable communities and groups such as women, girls, children (out of school and homeless), internally displaced persons and so on,” the statement said.
Marwa was quoted as saying, “It is worthy of mention here, that one of the challenges of the pandemic is the proliferation of On-Line sale of drug cookies and use of courier services to move illicit drugs. However, we were able to intercept, trace and dismantle most of the drug cells involved.
Part of the successes of Nigeria’s drug war efforts, Marwa noted, is the recent “first seizure of 74.119kg of Captagon brand of Amphetamine, presumably destined for use to fuel insurgency and other violent crimes and criminalities, which Nigeria is currently grappling with.”
