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Why NDLEA’s war against drug cartels is yielding results – Marwa

By Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja
27 October 2022   |   2:10 pm
Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) has linked the success recorded by the agency in the fight against illicit drugs in the country to ongoing reforms within the agency. Marwa said the NDLEA has been undergoing a reform process which he said has resulted in the…

NDLEA Chairman Buba Marwa

Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) has linked the success recorded by the agency in the fight against illicit drugs in the country to ongoing reforms within the agency.

Marwa said the NDLEA has been undergoing a reform process which he said has resulted in the arrest of many drug lords and their cartels.

He stated this on Wednesday at the 14th Biennial International Conference on Drugs, Alcohol, and Society in Africa with the theme “Towards the Reform of Drug Law and Policy in Africa: Research, Practice and Advocacy Consideration” organised by the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) in Abuja.

He said: “Revamping NDLEA became imperative in light of the disturbing findings of the National Drug Use and Health Survey conducted in 2018 which indicated that Nigeria’s drug use prevalence at 14.4% was way above the global threshold of 5.6%.

“In the past 21 months, NDLEA has been undergoing a reform process which has resulted in tectonic changes in the Agency’s administration, structure and operations.
Consequently, NDLEA’s turbo-charged performance in the areas of arrests, prosecutions, convictions and seizures is the result of reforms”.

According to him, the reforms are not limited to NDLEA’s activities but include the laws that established the agency and other legislations that are the basis for the country’s drug control effort.

He added that the reforms, singly and collectively, have given the agency a dynamic drug control framework in which prevention and treatment are now entrenched.

Stressing the need for reforms in drug laws, including policies and their implementations, Marwa recalled that until the past few years, drug law enforcement in Nigeria was tied to dated legislation with the resultant policies and practices he observed, no longer adequate to tackle issues of illicit substances.

He said rather than solve problems, the application of the law, methodologies and practices, were creating new challenges as they fuel criminalisation and did little to stem drug abuse and crimes.

Marwa added: “Change, as the saying goes, is inevitable. The past decades have brought fresh thinking concerning substance abuse. Around the world, there has been a gradual and systematic shift in drug control perspectives leading to an overhaul of old laws and policies which are replaced with new ones that reflect the contemporary understanding of illicit substances from law enforcement, socioeconomic and health standpoints.

“The new National Drug Control Master Plan, NDCMP 2021-2025, for instance, identifies drug use disorder as a public health issue with a strong emphasis on treatment. There has been a cascading effect. Today, we have a 24/7 toll-free Drug Abuse call centre even as the Agency continues to broaden accessibility to treatment with plans underway to build the first of six regional model rehabilitation centres. Along this line, the NDLEA is also working to scale up the capacity of its officers involved in drug demand reduction activities.

“For instance, in 2021, NDLEA adopted a new Standard Policy and Practice Guidelines (SPPG) manual for its counsellors and healthcare providers across the country. The SPPG, developed with the aid of UNODC and sponsored by the European Union, is an all-encompassing document for “people who are managing people who use drugs.”

“A significant reform on the subject matter of the use and abuse of drugs is the new Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) Act 2022, which was passed into law in September.

“The new law will help to curb the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs and also bring control to activities within the pharmacy profession. Similarly, the law establishing the NDLEA is going through amendment, having been reviewed by all relevant stakeholders who contributed and agreed on vital areas.”

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