The Nation Newspaper

Tag: drug war

  • UK partnership with Nigeria on drug war yielding results, says Home Office

    UK partnership with Nigeria on drug war yielding results, says Home Office

    • Renews MoU with NDLEA, Marwa seeks more support

    The United Kingdom (UK) Government, through its Home Office International Operations (HOIO), has said its collaboration with Nigeria in the fight against substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking is yielding positive results.

    The Head of UK Home Office International Operations, Victoria Pullen, said this when she led her colleague, Kristoffer Hawksfield, on a visit to the headquarters of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was held to sign a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between HOIO and NDLEA.

    Pullen said: “Results are as evident by the streak of successes being recorded by the NDLEA in recent times.”

    She thanked the NDLEA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), for an “excellent cooperation”.

    Pullen added: “Drug trafficking is a huge global issue. Like many big challenges, such as drug trafficking, it takes a huge global effort to try and counter that.

    “I think it’s evident by some of the recent successes and the volume of some of the illicit commodities that your teams are finding that the cooperation is working exceptionally well. We are currently really enjoying working with your team on those successes.

    “The willingness of your teams to work with us and do things differently and try things differently, fortunately, is leading to those successes. We like the way that you’ve worked with the UK and the levels of engagement that we’ve enjoyed with the teams.”

    Read Also: Paternity dispute: Court rejects ex-Minister’s Turaki’s request to stop further publication of allegations

    The Home Office chief said the NDLEA Marine Command Headquarters in Lagos, which was built and donated by the UK Government and inaugurated on October 16, was a significant landmark in the cooperation between the agency and HOIO.

    “We look forward to seeing the results of that level of investment that will bring significant benefits to you in Nigeria by being able to stop those drugs from permeating your own society.

    “Also, in the global space, because the more we help you to interdict and take out of the system here, the less that’s going into countries around the world and into the society.

    “Our team has got nothing but very positive things to say about the relationship that we have with you and your teams.

    “We look forward to the future and building on those and making them a lot better,” she added.

    Marwa expressed appreciation to the UK Government for supporting Nigeria’s efforts to curb the scourge of illicit drug trafficking.

  • Drug war, traffickers and option of fine

    Drug war, traffickers and option of fine

    Sir: The staggering volume of drugs seized by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, weekly, sometimes makes me jittery each time I read their operational successes in what has now become a Sunday-Sunday dosage of their press statements.

    What is more worrisome is the issue of court fines often issued by some judges when delivering judgements in the cases of major drug trafficking offenders. I am baffled because these seem to undermine the whole essence of the drug war in Nigeria. Within the last eight months, the news reports surrounding the arrest, prosecution and conviction of two notable drug kingpins: Uwaezuoke Ikenna Christian, and Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji with similar court verdicts are clear examples of court rulings that will not help the country in her war against drug use and dealing.

    According to the reports available online, Uwaezeoke Christian who was first arrested on March 19, 2022 at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja during the inward clearance of Ethiopian Airline flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia had ingested a total of 100 big wraps of cocaine weighing 2.243 kilograms. He was arraigned in an Abuja Federal High Court and granted bail under definite conditions, but he later absconded, though his bail conditions were revoked and arrest warrant issued. This unrepentant drug dealer would reappear 16 months later on August 1, 2023, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, using a different passport, under a different name “Ilonzeh Kingsley Onyebuchi.”

    He was rearrested by the NDLEA operatives. This time, he was reattempting to export 1.822 kilograms of cocaine to India through ingestion, the same method he used before at the Abuja Airport. He pleaded guilty to the two counts charge preferred against him; he was convicted and sentenced on October 18, 2023 to a total term of seven years imprisonment or a fine of ₦1,500,000.00. The drug dealer ceremoniously and joyfully paid the fine and was transferred to Abuja to face the importation case pending against him.

    In a matching report, Christian Ifeanyi Ogbuji on arrival from Uganda via Addis Ababa, on board Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 951 was first arrested by NDLEA operatives on Wednesday May 10, 2023 having being found to have ingested 93 pellets of cocaine weighing 1.986 kilograms. Subsequently arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja, he was convicted on July 13, 2023, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of paying a fine of N3 million. Again this drug dealer opted for the fine, happily paid and was set free. Fast forward to Wednesday September 18 during an inward clearance of Ethiopian Airlines flight passengers from Addis Ababa to Lagos, Ogbuji was arrested with a total of 817 pellets of cocaine excreted by many traffickers in Addis Ababa weighing 19.40kg.

    Read Also: Google releases report on Nigeria’s growing digital opportunities

    Evidently, these two scenarios bring to our faces the sad reality of the option of fines for drug kingpins. The option of fines as a way out for drug dealers and their protégés in our judicial system certainly encourages them to continue to engage in criminal and illicit acts of drug dealing across the world, undermining our justice system and the current concerted drug control efforts.

    What this means is that Nigeria can’t continue on this path of option of fine for drug dealing offenders who end up as recidivists. Who will tell our judiciary the fine option is not reforming these criminal elements or helping our country? Who will tell the National Assembly as a matter of urgency to conclude the amendment of the NDLEA Act by removing the option for fine?

    For the sake of public health, law and order, our future and those of our children, it will be good if someone will help deliver this message now.

    •Agbontaen Okogun,Benin City, Edo State.

  • Can Nigeria win its drug war

    Can Nigeria win its drug war

    Elements of the Nigerian society have since the 80″s been besieged by the menace of hard drugs: destroying lives, families and our immediate society. A close look at the situation provides no comforting auguries, as statistics available show that 14.4 percent (14.3 million Nigerians) of persons ranging from the ages of 15 and 64 years have abused or have engaged in the abuse of drugs.

    Now, despite the creation of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA in 1990, it’s funding and several reforms as an establishment designated to fight and make the nation one that is drug free has struggled in such a fight, as drug prevalence as well as the tendency for these drug barons to make our shores a ready haven for both the transiting and it’s destination seems to be growing and at a most alarming rate.

    The drug war waged by the NDLEA and sister agencies against these drug barons and their cartels has seen somewhat a seesaw of acheivements and jeremiads. On one hand, the agency has managed to bust criminal gangs and cartels and has sent many to jail, however despite all these, the drug business seems to be proliferating and like the Hydra of Lernea for every head chopped, two or more would grow. Such an impugnable situation given the paucity of resources at the availability of the agency allows these drug kingpins to run circles around it that it is yet a miracle that the NDLEA can afford to carry out this war.

    The NDLEA over the years has not only pitched it’s battlements against local drug barons, it has also, given the nation’s strategic location in subsaharan Africa, as well as the fact that it is a major transit nation to a number of major continents namely Europe, Latin, Asia and North America and even within the African continent has engaged global cartels who’s earnings from such an illicit trade are a hundred times bigger than the meagre budgets approved for the drug agency over the years.

    Read Also: Fire guts shops, others in Delta

    There is then the emergence of new drugs such as tramadol, methamphetamine, Colorado, codeine, Rohypnol and skunk , these drugs have helped worsen the prevalence of drugs among Nigerians, majorly it’s youths. Social media these days has been rife with videos depicting the effects of these drugs on a number of users.

    With these new drugs also come a couple of sophisticated means to either manufacture or traffic such drugs with the NDLEA lacking the manpower or surveillance intelligence tools to check such proliferation.

    There is also the issue of corruption within the NDLEA and the fact that there exists some form of linkage between a number of these cartels and certain powerful and influential Nigerians. My interactions with some passionate NDLEA officers led me to a story about how a raid on a methamphetamine manufacturing centre in a particular SouthEast state had been frustrated by a prominent SouthEast businessman. One report described such a situation as the “elite involvement and protection networks” and went further to suggest that it was only due to the remits of Nigeria’s oil industry that had kept Nigeria away from the control of these drug barons.

    When we corelate the relationship between drug abuse, youth restiveness and insecurity only then will we understand that until we are able to arrest the nation’s drug challenges deploying effective counter-narcotic policies which will take an all round approach in which agencies like the NDLEA will not only attempt to stem the manufacturing or flow of such drugs but also trace and follow the money which fuels such a trade and stop it’s flow, only then will we reduce such challenges as well as save generations yet unborn from the clutch of drug and substance abuse.

    Government should also recognize that there are also a number of key factors driving the consumption of hard drugs in Nigeria. Such factors which include poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and social inequality are often cited as underlying factors that contribute to the huge demand for drugs amongst Nigerians particularly it’s youths.

    Understanding this, efforts to address the drug war in Nigeria will also much require a multifaceted approach, including strengthening the NDLEA’s enforcement capabilities, ensuring more severe punitive measures for drug pushers, promoting social and economic development, and providing effective drug demand reduction programs. International cooperation and support are also crucial in combating transnational drug trafficking networks and disrupting the supply chain of illicit drugs.

    Advocacy also holds a key to helping resolve the drug problem, government and it’s agencies can deploy such using schools, churches and civil society organisations, it’s aim would be to change the mindset of the general public and assist them.form or adapt to drug free lifestyles.

    A drug free Nigeria is indeed possible and this drug war can indeed be won…

    May Nigeria Succeed!

  • Drug war: Cryptocurrency, money laundering top agenda as 54 African countries converge in Abuja

    Drug war: Cryptocurrency, money laundering top agenda as 54 African countries converge in Abuja

    Delegates from 54 African countries and 15 observer nations will next week converge in Abuja for the 31st meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, Africa, (HONLAF) to discuss new trends and partnerships to curb the global drug scourge.

    Top on their agenda will be discussions and collaborations on alternative development to cannabis cultivation, assets forfeiture, cryptocurrency, and money laundering by drug cartels, among others.

    This was disclosed on Tuesday, September 19, at a joint press briefing in Abuja by the Secretary to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Shadrach Haruna, and the Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe.

    Haruna, who represented the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Buba Marwa (Retd) at the briefing, said the 31st meeting of HONLAF, a subsidiary body of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (UNCND) is to enable heads of drug law enforcement agencies in Africa to discuss and develop strategies to combat drug trafficking and abuse in the region.

    He said: “The HONLAF meeting is an annual event. The last one was held in Nairobi, Kenya, where Nigeria was unanimously elected as the host of the 31st edition, which will take place from Tuesday, September 26 to Friday, September 29, 2023, in Abuja.

    “This annual HONLAF meeting features a line-up of activities that include technical meetings, paper presentations, deliberations on reports and trends, workshops, and bilateral talks among member nations. It is a platform for brokering collaborations in the areas of shared intelligence, joint training, and joint operations against international drug cartels in the African region. 

    Read Also: NDLEA, NAFDAC, Sports enthusiasts discuss dangers of drug abuse, doping

    “This year, Nigeria has the honour of being the chair and host of the meeting. So, it means delegates from 53 other African countries will converge on the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Monday, and for the rest of the week, they will be guests of NDLEA and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    “Aside from delegates from African countries, there will be representatives from observer bodies and other non-African countries who will be attending to watch the proceedings”, he said.

    While President Bola Tinubu is expected to deliver the keynote address and also declare the conference open as the special guest of honour, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and some invited ministers, as well as heads of relevant parastatals and agencies, would be at the opening ceremony.

    The conference, which holds between Tuesday 26th and Friday 29th September will also provide opportunities for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the main agenda.

    He said: “Among other positive outlooks, Nigeria hosting the 31st HONLAF is an indication of the trust in the leadership quality of NDLEA among its peers on the continent. At the last HONLAF meeting in Nairobi, Nigeria seized the momentum to broker bilateral cooperation with a number of countries with the intention of forming a strong regional defence against transnational illicit drug organisations trying to establish bases in our countries. Such bilateral relationships have been crucial to NDLEA’s interdiction exercises in the past year.”

    In his remarks at the briefing, Dr. Oliver Stolpe said the HONLAF meeting will also focus on “regional and national cooperation to reduce illicit production and cultivation of illicit drugs, something that has been observed, thanks to the operational success of NDLEA over the years in Nigeria not only for the destruction of cannabis farms but also the manufacturing of other drugs like methamphetamine.

    He added: “There will also be discussion on alternative development, an approach promoted by many countries; financial investigation in drug trafficking cases and the role of cryptocurrency in drug trafficking cases, and money laundering. It’s safe to say NDLEA has made great strides to confiscate the money and proceeds of drug crime. We’ll also look at how to follow the money and seize the immense riches accumulated in the drug trade.”

    He added that the opening ceremony of the HONLAF meeting will equally afford UNODC and the National Institute of Security Studies to present a report on organized crime trends that constitute a threat to Nigeria.

  • IDPs, drug war…Worst nightmares

    The humanitarian community is renewing support for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and waging a fierce battle against drug abuse, writes UCHE BIBILARI

    They need help. But these over 800,000 helpless people in Borno State are in areas that are inaccessible to humanitarian organisations. Their state is the epicentre of the crisis, but they live in communities hard to access.

    Humanitarian challenge, such as the one in Borno, human and drug trafficking and related crimes are major sources of worries for the humanitarian community globally.

    Following Nigeria’s attainment of independence on October 1, 1960, the country’s foreign policy has been focused on becoming a regional power in Africa.

    Its leaders at the time decided that the country would be able to achieve that by imbibing several fundamental principles.

    Such principles ranged from African unity and independence, capability to exercise hegemonic influence in the region through peaceful settlement of disputes, non-alignment and non-intentional interference in the internal affairs of other nations, as well as regional economic cooperation and development.

    To be able to carry out these principles, Nigeria made a decision to be an active participant in the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the United Nations (UN).

    Since becoming a member of the UN, the humanitarian community has continued to renew its commitment toward fighting against human and drug trafficking and related crimes as well as providing humanitarian support to refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) banished by insurgency.

    Aids provided by the humanitarian community, such as UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria and West Africa as a whole in the past ten years and in spite of the acts of terror in the area without doubt, constitute a paradigm shift from what obtained in the past.

    Now in its ninth year, the humanitarian crisis in Northeast Nigeria remains one of the most severe in the world.

    In its report titled, “Nigeria: 2019 Humanitarian Overview’’, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that across the three affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, 7.1 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2019 out of the total population of 13.4 million.

    More than 80 per cent of internally displaced people were in Borno State, the epicentre of the crisis, and more than 60 per cent were living in host communities, making it harder to access them with assistance and putting additional pressure on the already stretched resources of these communities, it said.

    According to the report, however, some 1.6 million people have returned home since Aug. 2015, indicating that conditions in some locations have improved.

    Humanitarian organisations are not able to meet all needs in the north-east; more than 800,000 people in Borno State are estimated to be in areas that are inaccessible to the organisations.

    In April 2018, humanitarian organisations developed a multi-sector Rainy Season Contingency Plan with concrete preparedness and response measures to address the expected rise in humanitarian needs resulting from: flooding of camps and towns, the damage and destruction to shelters and houses as well education and health facilities.

    The plan was also to respond to the heightened risk of waterborne disease transmission, including cholera and hepatitis E as well as the pre-positioning of life-saving items such as food, seeds, medicines, emergency shelter, non-food items and hygiene kits.

    In addition, the humanitarian community is exploring alternative transport options for humanitarian cargo movements between Ngala town and Rann, such as the use of canoes.

    The counter-insurgency measures carried out by the Nigerian military and their regional partners have improved access to new areas.

    The government also announced plans to relocate tens of thousands of IDPs from Maiduguri to Bama where rehabilitation of public and private infrastructure is underway. On April 2, 3,070 women, children and men were relocated.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and Heartland Alliance International (HAI) also provided support services in the form of training of 75 protection actors from government agencies, civil society organisations, and humanitarian organisations working in the Northeast Nigeria in a bid to tackle trafficking in persons in crisis situations.

    The actors reaffirmed their commitment to not only promote the fight against drug trafficking and other related crimes, but to make them become things of the past.

    According to them, such commitments have become necessary given the “horrific dimensions’’ of the rising cases of human trafficking, with sexual exploitation of victims being the main driver.

    Available data indicate that children account for 30 per cent of those being trafficked, and far more girls are detected than boys globally.

    Stabilisation, provision of aid to refugees, and victims of insurgency especially in the Northeast are some of the other humanitarian assistance provided by the actors as relief.

    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Representative in Nigeria, Mr Oliver Stolpe, at a humanitarian project steering and coordination committee meeting in Abuja, pledged that the office would redouble efforts aimed at tackling drug trafficking and crime in the sub-region.

    The meeting was a European Union (EU)-funded project, with the theme, “Support to ECOWAS regional action plan on illicit drug trafficking, related organised crime and drug Abuse.”

    Stolpe said: “This is not the end of the road only the closing of a chapter and the opening of a new one.

    “UNODC will remain at the service of Nigeria and other ECOWAS member states in the implementation of their respective National Drug Control Master Plans, to address the multiple threats posed by illicit drugs trafficking.”

    Also, the Head of Co-operation of EU, Mr Kurt Cornelis, promised to ensure that humanitarian projects were sustained to achieve targets over transnational border crime in the sub-region.

    According to him, the fight against transnational organised crime remains a priority and of mutual interest to Nigeria, Africa, and EU.

    Dr. Siga Fatima Jagne, the Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender at the ECOWAS Commission, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to carrying out action plans against drug trafficking and related crimes.

    Jagne, who was represented by Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, Head of ECOWAS Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Risk Destruction at a humanitarian project meeting in Abuja, assured of the sub-regional body’s commitment to dealing with organised crime.

    She said that the Commission had received 90 per cent of the total grant money amounting 2.929 million euros, adding that out of the sum 2.455 million euros, representing 84 per cent, was spent on humanitarian projects.

    She also said that the remaining balance of about 16 per cent had been earmarked for auditing and other activities that would last until Nov. 16.

    According to her, ECOWAS remains committed to building on what it has achieved so.

    Meanwhile, the UNDP in Nigeria had, in a bid to assist Nigeria, inaugurated the Regional Stabilisation Facility which was anchored within the Regional Stabilisation Strategy (RSS) for Lake Chad, a ground-breaking initiative led by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and adopted by its member states in August 2018.

    This initiative, an ambitious multi-million dollar fund to scale up the range of stabilisation intervention in areas of Lake Chad Basin, was inaugurated in July 2019 in Niamey, Niger at the second Governors Forum.

    The Facility, which began operating on September 1 is expected to run for two years in the eight affected regions of the 4 riparian countries (Cameroun, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria) and will serve as a rapid response mechanism to help the local authorities curtail the ability of Boko Haram insurgency by restoring and extending effective civilian security. It is also to help improve the delivery of basic services and livelihoods.

    Accordingly, the UNDP, Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mr Mohamed Yahaya during the first inaugural meeting of the ‘Nigerian window’, said Nigeria would receive more than 30 million dollars from a total of 100 million dollars set aside for the facility in the four countries facing insurgency.

    For Nigeria, the Facility is expected to facilitate recovery and stabilisation interventions including livelihood support for communities, massive civil engineering works, and strengthening of local security structure in the North eastern states affected. It is expected to run for two years.

    • Bibilari is of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).