Nigeria’s Anti-narcotic Agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has expressed its readiness to deploy personnel in all 774 local government areas of the country in 2024.
The agency said the move is part of efforts to strengthen the war against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking especially in local communities.
The Chief Executive Officer of the agency, retired Brig. General Mohammed Marwa stated this while responding to request for partnership and deployment of more NDLEA officers in all parts of Katsina by the state governor, Dr. Dikko Radda to tame the problem of drug abuse and insecurity in the state.
Marwa noted that with the Agency’s staff strength expected to rise to 15,000 by the end of the year, the next “development is to deploy in the LGAs.
“We currently have zonal commands, state commands, and area commands. We want to go to the LGAs for the offensive action and the advocacy work. We would need more support to succeed.”
Marwa said, “I appreciate the work of the Katsina governor as the challenges are numerous in governing the state. But if insecurity is a problem and is fueled by drugs, I believe we have to collectively take it out of the security equation.”
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He said, the drug menace is a huge issue and has destroyed the lives of youths in communities.
“It is the public enemy number one, and especially the criminal aspect of it. 99% of the criminals must first have access to drugs and be under the influence to perpetrate some of their acts. That is why the NDLEA, under the collective support of the directorates and the management has put all efforts towards operation ‘offensive action.”
The Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda, said he was at the Agency as part of his government’s efforts to solve the problem of insecurity facing the state.
“It is no longer news that the problem of insecurity has been ongoing for years and insecurity is one of the major issues confronting Katsina state. We receive unpleasant news almost on a daily basis on what has been the issues disturbing the state for a long time.”
He informed the NDLEA Boss of steps taken by his government.
“We set up a Katsina community watch corps with locals to complement the efforts of the conventional security agencies but that is not enough. We decided to reach out to the NDLEA under the leadership of the Chairman/Chief Executive to combine our efforts and synergise to mitigate the effect of insecurity in the state.
“We must get to the root of the problem, and the root of the problem is drug abuse by the teeming youths in the state. We know that these inhumane acts cannot be committed without the influence of drugs,” Governor Radda said.
Governor Radda said, the synergy is important and “I recognize that the NDLEA has been making a lot of efforts in supporting the government. But we still need more support from the Chairman/Chief Executive to stop the movement of drugs and ensure the arrest and prosecution of dealers in the state.”
