…6 MILLION NIGERIANS LIVING WITH DRUG USE DEPENDENCY –UNODC
By Ikechi Enwereji
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Monday, kicked off the drug week activities to mark the International Day of Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking.
The event which is in partnership with the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is targeted at addressing the challenges of drugs in Health and humanitarian crisis globally.
The Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brigadier General, Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), in his opening remarks, said this year’s event was significant in that it’s addressing the core challenges of drug trafficking and abuse.
According to him, June 26 is the day when the global community ponders and prioritizes illicit drug matters from a specific perspective for another year.
He said the theme was coming at the right time when viewed with what is going on in Nigeria following the dangers of drugs in the country.
The NDLEA boss disclosed that the world has been grappling with the illicit drugs conundrum for over three decades, stating that changing dynamics in the decade have forced a paradigm shift and re-adjusted perspectives that allow for drug narratives to be seen as exacerbating factors in multidimensional situations.
According to the Drug Boss, the consequences have brought to the fore the need for taking a new approach to the drug problem through the public health and also tackling such a broader social problem rather than through the conventional, narrow, criminal matter approach.
He stated that it has become prudent to initiate mechanisms and measures that are proactively extenuating.
He stated that the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2021-2025, launched last November, has incorporated components that tend to the health concerns of drug abuse.
Brig.-Gen. Marwa said the Agency, is measuring up with time and trends as shown by their priority accorded treatment and care.
He disclosed that in 2021, about 8,000 drug users were counselled and rehabilitated, in most cases through brief interventions.
Marwa stated that the effort in the first five months of 2022, was positive adding that 3,523 were also counselled and treated in NDLEA facilities.
According to him, the Agency has continued to shut the tap of illicit flow of drugs with the arrest of over 17,647 offenders and 10 drug barons between January 2021 and May 2022.
He stated that more than 2,369 were convicted and jailed within the same period while 154,667.339kg of drugs have been seized in the first five months of this year alone.
MARWA stressed that NDLEA’s Drug Demand Reduction Department has been galvanised and is working non-stop to ensure that the health aspect of the drug abuse calculus is getting adequate attention.
“In the same vein, the Agency’s policy of Drug Integrity Test is predicated on getting help to drug users suffering in silence because they cannot seek the needed health treatment due to social stigma and discrimination.
“This is why in a short while from now, we’ll be unveiling the NDLEA Call Centre that will be manned by professionals and experts in counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry and more to offer help to drug users who will make use of our tollfree lines to seek counselling 24/7.
“This will also enable those afraid of stigmatization to be able to seek help without necessarily being seen or identified by anyone.” He stated.
According to him, the world has been grappling with the illicit drugs conundrum for over three decades, changing dynamics in the decade have forced a paradigm shift and re-adjusted perspectives that allow for drug narratives to be seen as exacerbating factors in multidimensional situations.
“That has brought to the fore the imperative of looking at the drug problem through the lens of public health and also tackling such as a broader social problem rather than through the conventional, narrow, criminal matter approach.
“It has, therefore, also become prudent to initiate mechanisms and measures that are proactively extenuating. In our case, the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2021-2025, launched last November, has incorporated components that tend to the health concerns of drug abuse.
“This year’s theme for the UN Day has beamed the light on an area of the drug problem that has until recent years been on the backburner of the drug discourse.
For us at the Agency, we are abreast of time and trends as shown by the priority accorded treatment and care. In 2021, about 8,000 drug users were counselled and rehabilitated, in most cases through brief interventions.
“We continued the effort in the first five months of 2022, whereby an additional 3,523 were also counselled and treated in NDLEA facilities. Simultaneously, we have continued to shut the tap of illicit flow of drugs with the arrest of over 17,647 offenders including 10 drug barons between January 2021 and May 2022; more than 2,369 were convicted and jailed within the same period while 154,667.339kg drugs have been seized in the first five months of this year alone.
“Similarly, our Drug Demand Reduction Department has been galvanised and working non-stop to ensure that the health aspect of the drug abuse calculus is getting adequate attention.
“In the same vein, the Agency’s policy of Drug Integrity Test is predicated on getting help to drug users suffering in silence because they cannot seek the needed health treatment due to social stigma and discrimination.
“This is why in a short while from now, we’ll be unveiling the NDLEA Call Centre that will be manned by professionals and experts in counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry and more to offer help to drug users who will make use of our tollfree lines to seek counselling 24/7.
“This will also enable those afraid of stigmatisation to be able to seek help without necessarily being seen or identified by anyone.
“Even as we rev up our drug supply reduction offensive, it is certain that we are not relenting on getting help to those suffering from drug use disorder.
“The forthcoming sensitization training on Drug Prevention, Treatment and Care (DPTC) for Governors’ Wives will bolster the effort to ensure that the consequences of drug abuse are nipped in the bud and prevented from snowballing into a public health problem that would overwhelm our society in the long run.
“This year’s theme will go a long way in directing our attention to an area that requires collective effort to stave off future catastrophes.
“As an anti-narcotics agency, our capacities are being daily optimised to face the continuously changing threats of illicit drugs. In the last 16 months, officers and men of NDLEA have been through a series of training facilitated by UNODC and allied partners.
“Still, the best solution to the drug problem remains a preventive approach, which is one of the big goals of our War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign presently being rolled out across the states of the federation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we can say that we have made some gains in our collective effort to tame the drug menace. There is an obvious change in society’s posture towards the abuse and trafficking of illicit substances. In this regard, we want to thank every one of us for playing positive roles.
“I want to especially thank His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, for his unwavering support for the Agency.
I also want to thank UNODC for the continuing support that gives us leverage in areas that were once difficult grounds for us.
He appreciated the other collaborators, especially stakeholders, foreign partners and the media for their support in the fight against drug trafficking.
“Our partners in the NDCMP, including the Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) whose roles are critical to the success of the ongoing anti-drug campaign.”
“While we still have a long way to go in our objective of a drug-free country, we are nonetheless happy with the progress made thus far; it is an indication that our desire for a wholesome society is not farfetched, but a legitimate desire that is achievable.” He stated.
In his own remarks, the Country Representative of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), Mr. Oliver Stolpe, revealed that many Nigerians are living with a drug use dependency. The dangerous statistics were obtained during previous research by UNODC on Nigeria.
Mr. Stolpe urged governments at all levels in Nigeria, candidates for political offices and international partners not to lose sight of the public health crisis caused by drug use in the country.
“Based on the 2017/2018 data, we estimated that close to 6 million persons in Nigeria could be living with a drug use dependency. This creates a massive public health challenge.
“Our key policy asks on this World Drug Day to the Federal and state governments, to the international development partners as well as to the candidates for political office is not to lose sight of the public health crisis caused by drug use.
“What is being invested right now is nowhere near sufficient to cater for the needs of millions of persons living with a drug use dependency and even less so to mount drug use prevention programmes reaching both children in and out of school and providing them and their families with the knowledge and skills to avoid engaging in dangerous drug use and developing drug use disorders.” He stated.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/ndlea-arrests-17647-drug-traffickers-10-barons-convicts-2369-in-17-months-marwa/
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