NDLEA chief tells Oba of Benin 15 million Nigerians use drugs, seeks royal help
- NDLEA chairman Buba Marwa asked traditional rulers to join the fight against drug abuse during a visit to the Oba of Benin.
- Marwa said over 15 million Nigerians abuse drugs, three times the global average, and that cannabis makes up most seizures.
- The agency is persuading cannabis growers to switch to cassava, yam and corn, and named Governor Monday Okpebholo a grand patron.
The chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), has asked traditional rulers to help in the fight against drug abuse, saying the problem is too big for the agency alone.
Marwa spoke at the palace of the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, in Benin City, where he paid a courtesy visit. He said he was in Edo State to assess the agency's state command and to address the Regimental Sergeant Majors Convention of the Nigerian Army.
According to Marwa, more than 15 million Nigerians are abusing drugs, which he said is three times the global average. He described drug abuse as one of the major problems facing the country.
"We need the traditional institution, church, CSOs, government, media, because all hands must be on deck," he said.
Cannabis farms and a new approach
Marwa said 75 per cent of the 16 million kilogrammes of illicit substances the agency has seized in the last six years is cannabis, because it is grown in Nigeria. Edo State, he said, is one of the states where it is cultivated.
To change that, the NDLEA has introduced what it calls alternative development. Under the plan, the agency is asking cannabis growers to abandon the crop and plant cassava, yam, corn and other food crops instead.
Marwa said the growers themselves have told the agency they welcome the idea, because although cannabis brings more money, farming food crops gives them peace of mind. He said the NDLEA is the first in Africa to use the strategy, and that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Federal Government have both welcomed it as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Oba of Benin commended the NDLEA for its efforts against illicit drugs and promised to personally hand his suggestions on the fight to the chairman.
Earlier, Marwa named Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo as the agency's Grand Patron of the World Against Drugs and Substance Abuse, according to Leadership. The announcement was made when the NDLEA delegation visited the governor at Government House, Benin City, where Marwa praised the state's commitment to drug prevention.
