Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. General Mohammed Buba Marwa (Rtd) has revealed that illicit drugs offenders risk between 15 and 25 years in prison or even the maximum life imprisonment for heavier drug crimes.
Briefing State House Correspondents at Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, Marwa said this was part of efforts to give more bite to the War Against Drugs Abuse (WADA) campaign launched by President Muhammadu Buhari this year, and which is already yielding huge dividends.
The former Military Governor of Lagos State said that the NDLEA was pushing for the National Assembly (NASS) to enact a new NDLEA Act to prescribe stiffer punishment for illicit drugs offenders in Nigeria.
According to him: “The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has been up standing in the fight to rid Nigeria of illicit drugs. The measures and reforms undertaken by the leadership of the Agency, and the efforts and sacrifices being made by the employees are rewarded with results that are as significant as to shore up our belief that we are on track to fulfilling our mandate and also help to reinforce our resolution to prosecute the renewed war against illicit drugs to a logical conclusion”.
Explaining further, he said that as of October 15, the Agency has recorded the following: 9, 355 arrested traffickers, including six barons; Over 5, 000 drug offences cases filed in court; Over N100 billion worth of drugs and cash recovered; More than 2.7 million kilograms of assorted illicit drugs were seized in 10 months and 5, 579 drug users were counselled and rehabilitated by NDLEA, a figure that gives a fair balance between our drug control and drug demand efforts.
Marwa stated that other notable achievements of NDLEA which he said cannot be be measured in figures, but are nevertheless significant include; Signing of International Partnership and Donations of Equipment and Training with strategic partners such as Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) Border Force, the French Police and foreign governments warming up to NDLEA in the past 10 months.
On WADA, he stated that collaboration between NDLEA, State Governments, the Clergy, Traditional Rulers and Wives of Governors have been progressing well and called on the Nigerian media to join the fight against illicit drugs in the country.
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