The Nasarawa State commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Peter Onche-Odaudu disclosed that the state is currently in second position in drug abuse prevalence rate in the North-Central Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria.
Onche-Odaudu revealed this at an event to commemorate the 2023 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Monday in Lafia.
He asserted that the command would not relent until it changed the narrative to positive and make it one of the safest in terms of drugs.
Onche-Odaudu listed the achievements of NDLEA, he said the agency has seized 4, 257, 831 kilograms of illicit drugs in the state from June 2022 - June 2023.
He reported that 102 suspects were arrested out of which 18 are female and 84 male.
“53 of the suspects were convicted by the Federal High Court Lafia and serving various jail terms with other cases still currently going on.
“We have rehabilitated nine drug addicts in our facility in Lafia and offered counseling intervention to 397 suspects and users without taking them to custody for prosecution,“ he said.
The commander attributed the successes recorded to the effort of their staff across the state and the support and collaboration of the stakeholders and urged that the tempo should be sustained.
He expressed gratitude to Buba Marwa, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA for creating an enabling environment for them to function and Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and other stakeholders for their support in the fight against Illicit drugs.
Consequently, the NDLEA boss however listed some challenges confronting the command to include; paucity of funds, inadequate operational vehicles, unwillingness of the public to volunteer information of drug dealers among others.
He said despite the challenges, the personnel at the command are willing to tackle drug trafficking in the state.
“The threat from the rampaging drug monster of drug abuse and illicit trafficking is real and unless all work assiduously, the future of the youths will be mortgaged.
“The war against drugs is everybody’s war and not that of NDLEA,” he said.
