THE Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), retired, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa, on Wednesday, justified the decision of the agency to go after assets of drug barons and traffickers.
Marwa said this at a news briefing in Abuja to begin the week-long activities to commemorate the 2024 International Day Against Drugs and Illicit Trafficking.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that June 26 every year is set aside to commemorate the day.
NAN also reports that the theme of the 2024 World Drug Day (WDD) is: “Evidence is Clear, Let Us Invest in Prevention”. Represented by, the Secretary of the agency, Mr. Shadrach Haruna, the NDLEA chairman said that the decision was part of ongoing offensive against illicit drugs peddlers and cartels in the industry. According to him, the offensive against drug cartels and traffickers inaugurated in January 2021, has till date continued to yield the desired result with the arrests and prosecutions of several barons.
He said that in April, two serial traffickers got life imprisonment.
According to him, our prosecution efforts have continued to achieve successes in courts given the painstaking investigations and diligence in the prosecution of cases.
“Our water tight case preparations are unassailable. This has been further strengthened with our forfeiture regime with the passage of Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA 2022).
“Aside from conviction, the assets of the convicts used as instrumentality of the crime or the proceeds derived from the crime are forfeited to the Federal Government.
Speaking on the drug demand reduction efforts of the agency, Marwa said that the flagship programme, War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) was built on the whole of society approach to preventive action against drug abuse.
He said that the approach had been a tremendous success as an effective tool of advocacy for social action and an awareness-driven vehicle. This, he said was for public engagement and collaboration against illicit trafficking and abuse, which aligned with the theme for the 2024 WDD.
“At NDLEA, prevention as ably anchored in our War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), social advocacy programme is a priority area for us. He acknowledged that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had been a strong support for the agency as well as the foreign partners, including the U.S.-Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Others he said included the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the British Border Force, National Crime Agency (NCA) of United Kingdom, and the Nigerian Armed Forces and others.
In his remarks, UNODC Country Deputy Representative, Mr DaniloCampisi called on government at all levels and other stakeholders in Nigeria to invest in drug use preventive measures. (NAN)
