• Seeks increased mental health funding, priority for women, children

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), has warned that drug abuse and mental illness often reinforce each other, stressing the need to address underlying psychological distress alongside substance use.

“If we only arrest the symptoms, we will keep missing the cause,” he said.

Marwa spoke yesterday, while chairing the fifth edition of The Conversation Conference (TCC 5.0), organised by the Intersect Consortium at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja. The consortium is led by UK-based consultant psychiatrist, Dr Vincent Udenze.

Marwa, who also chaired the conference’s first and third editions, described the gathering as an important platform for mental health discussions in Nigeria. Coming days after World Mental Health Day, he said the conference offered an opportunity to move beyond awareness towards practical action.

Drawing on the NDLEA’s rehabilitation work, he said many people struggling with drug abuse had underlying emotional pain, trauma or depression that had gone unrecognised or untreated.

“For too long, we treated mental health as a private burden, hidden behind shame and silence. In my work at the NDLEA, I see the cost of that silence daily. Behind many cases of drug abuse is untreated pain: depression nobody noticed, trauma nobody addressed, a young person who found a substance before finding help. Drug use and mental illness feed each other,” he said.

Addressing the conference theme of strategic investments, partnerships and community-led action, Marwa said poverty and hopelessness could expose people to harmful coping mechanisms. He cited the NDLEA’s work in three pilot communities in Ondo State, where residents who previously depended on illicit cultivation were supported to establish lawful livelihoods.

“When people have hope, income and a stake in their future, stress eases, families stabilise and communities grow resilient,” he said, adding that the agency planned to expand the model nationwide.

He urged development partners and other stakeholders to support the initiative, stressing that sustainable interventions must be designed with communities rather than imposed on them.

Marwa also highlighted the NDLEA’s War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, which targets young people in schools, tertiary institutions and communities, as well as its 24-hour toll-free helpline for people seeking assistance.

He disclosed that more than 53,843 people had received treatment at the agency’s 31 rehabilitation facilities nationwide over the past five years.

“Behind that number are fathers returned to their families and young people returned to school and work,” he said.

Marwa called for increased investment in mental healthcare, including the recruitment and training of psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and community health workers. He also advocated integrating mental health services into primary healthcare to make treatment more accessible, particularly in underserved communities.

He warned against a system in which access to care depends on income, saying, “Care that only the well-off can afford is not a system; it is a privilege.”

Commending the conference’s emphasis on women and children, Marwa urged stakeholders to pay greater attention to survivors of violence, displaced mothers, vulnerable girls, persons with disabilities and families uprooted by conflict.

He said recovery was more sustainable when support extended beyond individuals to include their families and households.

Marwa stressed that no single institution could address Nigeria’s mental health challenges alone, calling for stronger collaboration among the health, education, security, justice and social welfare sectors.

He thanked Vice President Kashim Shettima, who was represented at the conference by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, for supporting efforts to make mental health a national priority.

Marwa urged participants to leave the conference with clear commitments to fund effective interventions, expand successful community-based programmes, prioritise women, children and other vulnerable groups, and hold stakeholders accountable for results.

“Let us build a Nigeria where seeking help is an act of courage, where recovery is possible, and where no one suffers alone,” he said.