Chairman/chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Marwa (retd) has warned that some 30 million Nigerians would be on drugs by 2050 if nothing is done to check the trend.
Marwa, according to a statement from the agency, spoke on Monday at three different fora in Port Harcourt where he met with various stakeholders.
He also stated that 90 per cent of criminalities being perpetrated in Nigeria including banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and rape, were due to drug abuse.
Marwa spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting comprising officers of the Rivers State Command of NDLEA at its headquarters, along with Christian and Islamic leaders as well as the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in Rivers State.
Marwa said, “Our society is a religious one and as such our religious leaders must use their privileged position to make the campaign against drug abuse part of their sermons in the churches and mosques.
“I want you to come out with a loud voice against the menace because if we don’t all rise up against the menace now, by 2050, not less than 30 million Nigerians will be on drugs and that is too dangerous for the future of this great country.”
He urged the NURTW leaders to mobilise their members against using drugs and transporting same for traffickers.
“NURTW must cut out the use of drug and its transportation by its members across the country. For us in NDLEA, we are going all out for the small and the big; both the users, traffickers and barons.
“The arrest in Lagos last week of a baron who has been on the run for 10 years confirms that we’ll not spare anyone, no matter how long they have been in the trade, they can no longer hide from the long arms of the law.”
The NDLEA CEO also spoke with officers of the Port Harcourt International Airport Command of the NDLEA along with other security agencies and stakeholders.
He reminded them that investigations have revealed that the airports and seaports had served as the gateway for importation and exportation of illicit drugs.
At the Onne seaport, Marwa told a gathering of the stakeholders operating at the port including men and officers of the agency that “90 per cent of all criminalities in Nigeria today ranging from banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, rape and others is linked to the use of illicit drugs.
