Nigeria’s Drug War In Danger —Legislator

With just four sniffer dogs across the country and meagre resources, Nigeria’s drug war is in danger and the anti-narcotics agency is broke, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Jagaba Adams Jagaba, disclosed on Wednesday.

Jagaba, while on an oversight function at the headquarters of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, said that the agency needs urgent intervention if the drug war must be sustained.

“We are here on oversight assignment but there is no work for us because of lack of fund. In this year’s budget N100million was approved for the NDLEA out of which only N18.7 million has been released. Nothing could be done with the money released because the deficit of the previous year is about N23 million. The Federal Government needs to provide funds for the agency to enable it perform optimally,” Jagaba said.

Jagaba said his committee has carried out an independent investigation on the agency and the findings are worrisome.

“NDLEA offices across the country are all in dilapidated condition, in dire need of renovation. The agency lacks operational vehicles, sniffer dogs, training and even arms and ammunition. In the past five years, 20 officers have lost their lives in active service. This is very sad,” he said.

Jagaba said funding for the NDLEA is very important and a priority for all stakeholders.

“Acts of militancy, terrorism, armed robbery and violent crimes are rooted in drug abuse. If we must fight crime in this country we need to control drugs. If we must control drugs, NDLEA must be funded by the Federal Government,” he said.

The lawmaker disclosed that the NDLEA has only four sniffer dogs which were donated by their international partners.

“The agency has four sniffer dogs, all donated by its international partners. This number is not adequate for the international wing of the Lagos airport alone. The agency lacks money to source for intelligence. Even the new officers recruited two years ago have not been trained because of lack of funds. This should not be so,” Jagaba said.

Another source of worry for the committee is the recent discovery of clandestine laboratories by the NDLEA in Lagos where methamphetamine, a very dangerous type ‘A’ drug is being produced, he said.

The committee noted that NDLEA needs relevant training to suppress the ugly development.

“It is sad that the agency has to bring experts from outside the country to assist in the dismantling of the laboratories due to lack of requisite technical expertise. This is the reason adequate money must be released to the Agency to enhance its capacity in order to be breast with current drug control strategies,” Jagaba said.

He said the NDLEA has shown that it has the capacity to manage even the meagre resources at its disposal.

“The record of arrest is impressive and I think we must join hands in moving the agency forward. As a committee, we shall work with you to ensure that everything is in place in line with best practices,” the committee Chairman promised.

—Simon Ateba