The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) retired, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa, has said that Nigeria is traditionally being considered a transit country for drug trafficking.
Marwa stated this in his presentation on the national drug control master plan at the commission on Narcotic drugs conference taking place in Vienna, Austria, NAN reports.
According to him, this justifies the agency’s offensive action against illicit drugs’ production laboratories and farms.
He said the agency took the step because of the threat drugs posed to Nigeria’s national security.
“Nigeria is traditionally considered a transit country for drug trafficking.
“The problem is much bigger as different categories of drugs are produced, consumed and trafficked in the country.
“Drugs trafficked include: cannabis, cocaine, heroin and tramadol.
“Cannabis is cultivated in different parts of the country and there is evidence of methamphetamine producing laboratories.
“NDLEA has destroyed thousands of hectares of cannabis cultivated land as well as 18 methamphetamine manufacturing laboratories,” he said.
Marwa further stated that a situation where the drug use prevalence in Nigeria was 14.4 per cent was unacceptable, adding that necessary steps must be taken to reverse the trend.
“Cannabis used by 10.6 million Nigerians is the most common used drug followed by opioid with 4.6 million including tramadol.
“This is in addition to the fact that one in every five individuals using drugs is a woman and one in five who had used drug in the past year is suffering from drug user disorder,” he added.
The NDLEA boss, however, said the agency remained committed as Nigeria’s premier drug control agency with the mandate to “provide effective and efficient services to Nigerians.”
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