- Says war against illicit drugs is fight to finish
The Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), Brig.-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd) has said that 90% of criminalities in Nigeria is linked to drug abuse.
The new NDLEA helmsman, who disclosed this at three different fora on Monday, where he met with various stakeholders in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said as such the war against the menace of illicit drug trafficking, peddling and abuse is a fight to finish with him in the saddle of the lead agency.
Addressing men and officers of the Port Harcourt Airport Command of the NDLEA, along with officials of other security agencies and stakeholders that operate at the airport, the anti-drug czar reminded them that the airports and seaports serve as the gateway for importation and exportation of illicit drugs and as such, they need to work in synergy to ensure that no hard drug enters or goes out of the country through their area of responsibility.
According to him, We need to secure our country from the menace of drug abuse by working together. For us in the new NDLEA, this is a fight to finish; we cant allow this country to be destroyed by criminalities. All those involved in this criminal act must be fished out and punished.
At the Onne seaport, Gen. Marwa told a gathering of the stakeholders operating at the Port, including men and officers of the agency, that 90% of all criminalities in Nigeria today, ranging from banditry, insurgency, kidnapping, rape and others, is linked to the use of illicit drugs. He urged them to be vigilant and ensure no drug goes out or comes in through Onne seaport, because any little drug that escapes into the society can do great damage to our families and our country as a whole.
Also addressing another stakeholders meeting, comprising men and officers of the Rivers State Command of NDLEA at the Commands headquarters, along with Christian and Islamic leaders as well as the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW) 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 your sermons in the churches and mosques.
He urged the NURTW leaders to mobilise their members against using drugs and transporting the same for traffickers, saying, NURTW must cut out the use of drug and its transportation by its members across the country
All the stakeholders, especially the religious leaders and the road transport union officials, assured Marwa of their support in the renewed fight against drug menace in Rivers State in particular and the country at large, saying they were happy to be part of the meeting and given Marwas antecedents, they were excited about the record seizures and arrests made since he took over the leadership of the agency about a month ago.
