Drugs and crimes: Is the NDLEA right?

“There is incontrovertible evidence of a linkage between drug use and a spate of insecurity. Drugs are a clear propellant to insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities”

-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), chairman/CEO NDLEA).

Breaking News: “NDLEA arrests wanted drug baron behind cocaine shipments to Saudi Arabia, Qatar” (September 13,2024).

”Nigerian authorities seize cocaine worth $2.93 million from businessman at Lagos airport” (September 24, 2024).

“Nigerian drug ringleader extradited to South Korea” (September 26,2024).

“NDLEA uncovers heroin, loud consignments concealed in rechargeable lamps” (September 29, 2024).

And on that same day another piece of news that went viral on both social and traditional media was that of: “NDLEA nabs wanted Badagry community leader, wives and son.”

My dear reader and concerned Nigerian, just how do you feel about these torrid tales of the reining in of the nefarious activities of desperate drug barons by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with all in one month of September, 2024? Shocked, as yours truly felt, I guess. But it goes beyond that. Worrisome too is the escalation of sundry crimes, with many linked to drug abuse. One can therefore, imagine what would have happened if the NDLEA was not put in place to identify, highlight and bring the perpetrators of the pure evil acts of both drug trafficking and its brazen abuse to justice.

Researches have shown on the global socio-economic spectrum that between 25-50% of violent crimes are committed under the rising influence of hard drugs, or alcohol as we’re nearly 60% of robbery and theft. That is according to the online blog recovered.org. And drug trafficking has been identified as major source of revenue for organised crime groups, many of whom are involved in other forms of serious crimes such as the purchase and sales of firearms, modern slavery and immigration crime.

Worthy of note is that drug abusers commit crimes to pay for their drugs and painfully, this inflicts damages to the society as a whole. For instance, back in 2010 about 70 % of male prisoners in the United States confessed to have been involved in drug abuse. That was compared to the 11.2% rate of drug abuse in the country’s male population. According to the research in question alcohol consumption was fingered out as responsible for the highest percentage of aggression related crimes. Furthermore, it was revealed that those who took a combination of alcohol and drugs were behind the perpetration of 21.4% of aggression.

Agreed, that crimes and criminality have other root causes. These include lack of proper upbringing of children, without being weaned on the milk of morality right from the home front, poverty and peer group of pressure. Other causative factors are traced to sheer laziness, vaulting ambition of those who compare themselves to the Joneses, and of course, the culture of impunity.

That is especially so whereby some highly placed criminals either receive a slap on the wrist and told to go and sin no more, or left off the hook because of their connections in the corridors of political power. But exposure to the drug lords of crime worsens their situations. And that brings us to the Nigerian socio-economic landscape.

A report by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime in Nigeria indicates that 14.4% (14.3 million) of people between the age of 15 and 64 years abuse drugs. It has also been discovered that a population of of 30 million to 35 million Nigerians spends approximately $15,000 to $30,000(N25.5 billion to N51 billion) every year on psychotropic drugs and alcohol. This is a matter of serious concern, is it not? Of course, it is.

Also worrisome was the finding of a statistical analysis of a 2015 nationwide survey of 10,609 responses that identified alcohol as the drug with the highest prevalence rate while cannabis remains the most abused illicit drug, across the educational spectrum up to secondary schools. Now you understand why Marwa is standing firm against its adoption as a non-illicit drug by the National Assembly.

As one distinguished Nigerian patriot who certainly knows his onions, the evils of drug trafficking and abuse became more obvious when between January and May 2021 NDLEA seized over 2,000 tonnes and over N90 billion worth of drugs in the country. As he rightly noted a fraction of that huge sum would definitely support their criminal activities. That explains why he insists that terrorists, bandits and kidnappers take drugs before launching their criminal activities. But what really matters is the important role each and every one of us can play to weaken the widening wings of drug trafficking and the abuse thereof.

Is there a nexus between drug abuse and the rate of crimes? The answer is in the affirmative. So, as the NDLEA has upped its game in the training of staff, to upgrade their capacity to identify and arrest the drug traffickers in their tracks all of us should rise up to contribute our quota. Parents should be there for their children; enlightening them on the ills of drug abuse and keeping them away from drug traffickers. So, should teachers, imams, community leaders and the traditional rulers. Such a holistic approach will definitely assist to breed a new generation to guarantee a brighter and bigger Nigeria.

Lest we forget, the NDLEA was established by a decree in 1989 to combat illicit drug trafficking and consumption. Subsequently, the Act 2004 by the Federal Government of Nigeria came into effect to enforce laws against the cultivation, processing, sale, trafficking and use of hard drugs and to empower the Agency to investigate persons suspected to have dealings in drugs and other related matters. But truth be told, many Nigerians still do not know all these statutory functions of the NDLEA and indeed, what they are supposed to be doing as partners in progress.

It has therefore, become expedient to engage in sustained public enlightenment, using the mass media with translation to many of the local languages down to the grassroots. With that perhaps, those at the rural areas engaged in mass cultivation of cannabis would understand why it is wrong to do so. Thereafter, the public should be kept updated on the Agency’s achievements and above all why we need to help the NDLEA to help us enjoy a drug–free and eventually a crime-free life.