Tope Olaiya
To scale up the fight against crimes of drug trafficking and wildlife in Nigeria, the United Nations Office on Drug (UNODC), and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have held training for journalist on effective reportage of issues of concern.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, NDLEA, Brigadier General, (retired), Mohammed Buba-Marwa, said the illicit drug landscape was a rapidly changing scene, and modern drug law enforcement had to keep up with the dynamics. Therefore, the media as a pivotal partner must be well informed on these changing trends.
At the training organised by the two agencies in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, he pointed that “the training should not only enhance the capacity of anti-drug agencies. It should also reform their systems and processes and instill in them the essence of best practices.”
The Chairman stated that “At NDLEA, we yearn for training and UNODC has been forthcoming, providing various capacity development trainings in the past three years.”
Reiterating the importance of journalists understanding key issues of public impact and reporting them in the proper context with regards to data interpretation, Country Representative, UNODC, Oliver Stolpe, said data is essential to understanding the prevalence and frequency of science of issues of concern.
Noting the impact of organized Wildlife Crime, he said “I also would like to draw your attention to a much less cited study, which was on cannabis cultivation in Nigeria. It covered six states, it was published about two years ago, and it clearly established among many of the other things that there is a connection, a direct connection between deforestation and drug cultivation.
“We need to get better at reporting wildlife and forest crime. I’m really pleased to see that there is such a great interest in the topic.
“This is a topic that is very critical for Nigeria. It is a huge challenge much bigger than I think that we were aware of, even a few years ago when nobody was talking really about wildlife and forest crime.
Stolpe also pointed that the UNODC’s principal collaboration with the media has been to ensure effective information through meaning press releases, interviews and other media events.
“We have always made sure that we are clearly distinguishing between crimes of drug trafficking, as opposed to the issue of drug use, which we consider primarily to be a health issue and that should be dealt with as such.
“Addiction is a health condition it is not a choice. And therefore, people that suffer addiction also can be in possession of drugs.
“They should be principally dealt with as patients and should have access to the necessary treatment and counseling services that they require in order to overcome their respective drug use condition,” he said.
