By Gift Moses
The burden of illicit drug trafficking is becoming a public health concern in Nigeria. One of the actual threats to the nation’s and human security is the alarming rate of illicit drug trafficking (IDT).
Illicit drug trafficking poses heinous threats to human lives, national development and security. We are welcomed almost every day with a barrage of news of young Nigerians, arrested while attempting to traffic hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin, within and outside the country.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines drug trafficking as the illicit global trade that deals with the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws.
The most commonly trafficked drugs are cocaine, heroin, morphine, cannabis sativa (Indian hemp), and crystal methamphetamine. And this illegal act is commonly associated among young ones (The youths).
The arrest of 31,675 drug offenders by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency between February 2021 and June 2023 lays bare the rising menace of drug trafficking and abuse in Nigeria.
Mohammed Marwa, the Chairman of NDLEA, who also announced the seizure of 6,252 tonnes of illicit drugs nationwide during activities marking the 2023 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking, re-issued the warning that Nigeria may be transiting from a minor transit point in the international drugs trade to becoming a major hub.
This calls for much stronger efforts by the government to prevent such a calamitous occurrence that could push the country into graver insecurity and instability. In Nigeria, trafficking within and across the country’s borders is increasing, and abuse is rising even faster.
Interdiction efforts have recently resulted in the arrest of 35 drug barons, while 5,147 offenders have been prosecuted and sentenced to various jail terms. Some of the criminals also forfeited their ill-gotten wealth to the government.
Both the Nigerian government and the people should fret. Rising drug abuse and trafficking are fuelling crime, terrorism, and ill health, while law enforcement is overstretched.
The warnings by foreign and local security experts on Nigeria’s gravitation towards becoming a major transnational drugs hub should no longer be ignored. The country is already experiencing unprecedented insecurity; banditry, terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, Fulani herdsmen ethnic violence, and cultism have laid the country low.
Transiting to ‘narco-state’ status could complete its lurch towards state failure. President Bola Tinubu should therefore treat this challenge as another national emergency and tackle it head-on.
Drug trafficking, says the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, is powered by organised crime gangs that also engage in other serious crimes such as arms trafficking, modern slavery, financing terrorism, and money-laundering.
Nigerians should tremble because in addition, says the NCA, “There is also corruption at every stage of the drug supply chain, including through the use of corrupt port and airport officials.”
In a country with record-shattering levels of corruption, terrorism and compromised state institutions and officials, the warnings become strident alarms.
The Federal Government must take the lead in a national eradication programme involving the 36 states and the 774 local governments, as well as foreign and domestic partners.
Nigeria must take urgent measures to prevent the country from becoming a ‘narco-state,’ like Mexico and Colombia where drug cartels wield enormous political influence, corrupt the law enforcement and judicial system, and rival the state in the possession and application of the instruments of violence.
There should be a reinvigorated national anti-drug strategy. The NDLEA should be revitalized, well-funded and its personnel motivated, trained, and retrained. Corrupt insiders in the security agencies should be identified, flushed and prosecuted.
There should be a well-planned national programme involving all three tiers of government as well as regional, state, and local activities–all integrated and aligned with global efforts.
Also, President Tinubu should appoint a national anti-drug czar, coordinating national and state law enforcement and anti-drug units of the foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.
Drug abuse should be treated as both a crime and a health issue, especially by the states and LGs which should strengthen partnerships with communities, NGOs, schools, youth, and faith-based organisations to run outreach and rehabilitation programmes.
The future of young Nigerians should matter to the government. Hence, it should do all within its capacity to not only guarantee it, but make it safe and prosperous. But that is if, and only if the problem of drug abuse is tackled decisively.
Now is the time to wage a brutal onslaught against persons whose stock in trade is either abusing or trafficking hard drugs. They should not be allowed to breathe.
*Gift Moses is a 300-Level Mass Communication student of Nasarawa State University, doing an intern with PRNigeria in Abuja*
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