Jang seeks death for traffickers as NDLEA commissions 255 officers

• Agency arrests 57, impounds 87kg cannabis

IN view of the debilitating health and economic consequences of hard drug, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State has advocated capital punishment for traffickers in Nigeria. 

   Speaking at the passing out parade of 255 Senior Officers Basic Course 14/2014 after their five-month training at the Regional Academy for Drug Control (RADC) in Jos, Jang said: “I want NDLEA to ensure maximum punishment for drug offenders. Let it be death sentence because drug destroys our children and retards national development.”

   In another development, the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Benue said it has arrested 57 suspected drug offenders and impounded 87kg of cannabis sativa in efforts to rid the state of such psychoactive substances.

   NDLEA Commander of Narcotics in the state, Mrs. Chinyere Obijuru, while parading the suspects yesterday at the agency’s office, disclosed that the 57 suspects – comprising 22 dealers and 35 consumers of the substance – were arrested in the past 10 days during joint patrols by the agency and other security outfits in the state.

   Obijuru regretted that some of the arrested dealers were notorious drug offenders, who had served several jail terms in the past. She appealed to parents to keep a close watch on their children to protect them from drug abuse, especially hard substances.

   She further lamented that inadequacy of manpower and logistics were hampering the agency, as it has only 300 operatives covering the whole of Benue State at the moment. And to make their job more efficient, she appealed for more information from the communities. 

   According to a statement by NDLEA’s Head of Public Affairs, Ofoyeju Mitchell, the governor, represented by the Plateau Commissioner for Planning, Prof. Comfort Piwuna, urged NDLEA to collaborate with stakeholders for a successful fight against illicit drugs in the country.

   He congratulated the graduands and charged them to be upright and hardworking in cleansing the nation of drugs, stressing that drug control is a noble profession.