Connect with us

News

We are Planning Alternative Strategies to Nullify Drug Cartel-NDLEA

Published

on

We are Planning Alternative Strategies to Nullify Drug Cartel-NDLEA

By: Michael Mike

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. Gen.Buba Marwa (Retd) has said that the agency is planning alternative development strategies that will take drug cartels out of business and protect the environment from the damaging effects of illicit drug cultivation and production.

The NDLEA boss disclosed this while outlining efforts by Nigeria to curb the menace of substance abuse and illicit drug production and trafficking in his presentation at the third committee session of the ongoing 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, USA on Monday

The spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Tuesday quoted Marwa to have said: “Cartels involved in illicit drug cultivation are causing deforestation, resulting in environmental degradation. In search of a lasting solution, we are working to implement an alternative development plan. This will provide cannabis farmers with better options, like agricultural loans and improved seedlings.

“The increasing online activities of drug traffickers, particularly on the dark web, after the COVID-19 pandemic have become a great source of concern. This will require collaboration and capacity-building to neutralize the growing threat. Nigeria is also strengthening its legal framework through on-going amendments to relevant drug laws.

“Our bilateral and multilateral cooperation efforts have been expanded through the signing and renewal of memoranda of understanding with countries and agencies. This has helped to deepen intelligence sharing, exchange programmes, joint operations, and capacity building, among others.”

Marwa also said the Nigeria’s premier anti-narcotics agency will continue to identify gaps and build bridges, both in dismantling drug trafficking cartels and providing access to treatment and counselling services.

He said: “More policies to protect vulnerable groups such as women, children, and displaced persons will be implemented. To maintain a clear lead over drug trafficking groups, we will continue to engage in thoughtful regulations and targeted strategic law enforcement that are intelligence-led and human rights-centred. We will also leverage stakeholder collaboration as we make progress in the implementation of the SDGs. No stone must be left unturned, and no community, group, or individual must be left behind. We must extend the fight against drugs on all fronts and ensure that our communities are safe, healthy, and peaceful”, he told the global gathering.”

He added that Nigeria is adopting a whole-of-society approach to countering the challenges of drug trafficking in line with the 2030 SDG agenda, which seeks to promote the rule of law, health, peace, and justice, stressing that: “Therefore, while ramping up law enforcement efforts to halt the illicit supply of drugs, we are equally promoting evidence-based drug prevention, treatment, and care programmes.”

Marwa while stating that Nigeria is concentrating efforts on mitigating the challenges of narcotic drugs, he declared that “the drug demand reduction strategies are also helping to address the problem of stigmatization and discrimination against people with drug use disorders. This includes the introduction of a 24/7 toll-free call centre where people can call from the comfort of their homes to access quality counselling, treatment, and care.”

He noted that: “Remarkable progress has also been made in early prevention programmes in schools and communities. This is in accordance with SDG 3, which seeks to promote good health and well-being. One of the approaches is to build the capacity of young people and provide them with the basic coping skills they need to succeed in life. The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the MTN Foundation, is promoting the Unplugged Drug Programme in schools.

“I am glad to inform that the implementation of the National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) 2021–2025 is in its third year. This is Nigeria’s strategic document for addressing the world drug problem. One of its advantages is the involvement of stakeholders at all levels of government. The master plan provides a multi-agency intelligence-led model that is aimed at disrupting drug trafficking cartels and targeting illicit drug assets and wealth.

“In addition to the NDCMP, there is the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) advocacy campaign, which provides stakeholders with a platform to promote anti-drug abuse enlightenment efforts. With this development, we have given equal opportunity to drug demand reduction and drug supply reduction efforts. The active participation of non-governmental organizations and civil society groups has raised awareness among various groups, including traditional rulers, students, opinion leaders, and religious leaders about the dangers of drug abuse and the need to address it.”

We are Planning Alternative Strategies to Nullify Drug Cartel-NDLEA

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Published

on

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.

The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.

According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Continue Reading

News

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Published

on

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

By: Michael Mike

As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.

Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.

He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.

“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”

While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.

He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”

Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.

He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”

Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.

“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”

Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.

She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.

“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?

“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.

“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Continue Reading

News

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

Published

on

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible
.. Says Police Service Commission Not Denied Access

By: Michael Mike

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said all its verification service platforms are functional and accessible to all partners including all security agencies.

The Commission, in a statement on Thursday by its spokesman, Dr. Kayode Adegoke said it is aware of the purported ”inability of the Police Service Commission (PSC) to access the NIMC verification server,” insisting that the “information is not only misleading but also inaccurate.”

Adegoke said: “To set the record straight, the NIMC granted verification access to all Nigerian Police formations for the verification of the National Identification Number (NIN). The NPF, PSC and other security agencies have been enjoying uninterrupted verification services for over five years.

“NIMC has provided top-notch verification services for recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force, as conducted by the PSC and at no time have there been any complaints or issues regarding NIN Verification by the NPF or PSC.”

Adegoke, in the statement, claimed that: “The Commission has a robust and harmonious working relationship with the Nigerian Police Force and the Police Service Commission. The Information Communications and Technology (ICT) department of the Nigeria Police Force is actively managing the long-standing verification and integration service between the NIMC and all Nigeria Police formations. NIMC will continue to provide flawless verification services for the purpose of recruitment, security mapping, cybercrime control, and any other security matters.”

He explained that: “The framework by which NIMC provides services to the security agencies was recently restructured for standardization and effective implementation, following consultation with the Office of the National Security Adviser, and NPF has confirmed the verification services have continued to be available. We therefore believe that any service interruption experienced by PSC may be due to internal matters.”

He promised that: “NIMC is committed to providing excellent verification services to the PSC, NPF and all its partners but the terms and conditions inherent must be adhered to for uninterrupted flow of service.”

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights